Life, 1915-08-19 · page 18 of 48
Life — August 19, 1915 — page 18: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two satirical pieces from Life magazine (a humor/satire publication, not the photo magazine): **Top cartoon:** Shows a photographer trying to take a picture of children and a house, but one child ("Willie") is excluded. The joke plays on the caption "Why They Wouldn't Let Willie in the Picture"—likely suggesting Willie was misbehaving or wouldn't cooperate, making him unsuitable for the formal family photograph. **Bottom section:** - Left: A car advertisement cleverly titled "Need Any Help?" showing a small dog under an automobile, suggesting butter ("civilization's greatest lubricant") helps everything run smoothly, even in humorous situations. - Right: A humorous list titled "Some of Life's Thrilling Moments" describing universal male experiences of romantic and financial disappointment—unrequited love, marital financial disputes, and stock market losses. The tone is satirical, treating mundane domestic troubles as dramatic life events. The page combines advertising copy with gentle satire of middle-class American life, relationships, and masculinity.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
WHY THEY WOULDN'T LET WILLIE IN THE PICTURE Civilization’s Greatest Lubricant Some of Life’s Thrilling Moments UTTER is especially good on bread, axles and conver- WHEN. The doctors have a consultation about the baby- sation. Everything cooked to eat is improved by good food that will agree with you best—and butter. Fruits and things eaten raw don't require it. It decide upon the wrong food. is an artificial amenity applicable to products of civilization. Having fallen in love at the circus with the transcendentally beautiful creature who rides bareback, you watch at the rear of her dress- ing tent, you pick up her handkerchief as she passes, and she actually smiles and thanks you. Having “licked” for the first time another boy slightly larger than yourself, and having gotten him down, you listen almost voluptu- ously as you hear him “take it all back.” At sixteen you see the only woman you have ever really loved—about ten years your senior—walk out of church married to another man. Having returned from your own honeymoon, you find that your bride, aided and abetted by her family, has completely decorated the house you have selected to live in at your expense. After secretly taking a “flyer” in Wall Street against your wife's advice, you are compelled to confess to her that the “market went against you,” while at the same time you ask “ NEED ANY HELP?” her for a small loan to tide you over. comicbooks.com