Life, 1915-10-21 · page 19 of 52
Life — October 21, 1915 — page 19: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satirical piece from *Life* magazine (appears to be post-WWI, based on "after the Great War" references) mocks American travelers desperate to resume European vacations after wartime disruptions. **Main cartoon (top):** Shows a devil-like figure with a baseball bat confronting well-dressed gentlemen—a sports reference ("no pitcher warmed up") suggesting chaos when European travel resumes. The title references an old saying about disorder. **Key satire:** The article ridicules wealthy Americans who've become so dependent on European tourism that domestic alternatives (the Fair, summer homes) feel inadequate. It suggests these "spoiled" travelers will flood Europe when steamships resume service, treating the continent like a playground while wielding American wealth. **Bottom comics:** Present a crude choice between "Smith drunk" versus "Smith sober"—likely commenting on how European vacations function as escapism, or contrasting personality types among the leisure class. **Historical context:** This reflects post-WWI anxieties about American wealth, European reconstruction, and shifting demographics (immigrants returning to replace war casualties).
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
A REVISION “THERE'S THE DEVIL TO PLAY AND NO PITCHER WARMED UP” When Europe Opens Again O*E hears of a good many people this fall who are out of condition because they have not been able to get their usual vacation in Europe. There are semi-invalids by the thousand who needed the German baths, and tens of thousands of other people whose lives, more or less labo- rious, had been adjusted for years to a routine which in- cluded six weeks, more or less, in Europe every summer. They got much more than mere pleasure out of it; they got refreshment, recreation, inspiration, strength and ideas to go on with after their return. These tens of thousands have been obliged this year to turn themselves out in the domestic pastures. Many of them have been out to the Fair, and the summer places have caught a bigger crowd than usual. But nothing but Europe meets the needs of persons who have the European habit. They are spoiled for other summer pleasures; they miss the voyage; they pine for Picadilly and the Rue de Rivoli; they long to see again what they have seen before, and long still more to see what they had not seen. They are like children who have been turned out of their play- house, and when the sign “Open to Visitors” goes up again in Europe and the surviving steamers run once more, and the surviving stewards man them, the migration will be like the outflow from a bursted dike, and whatever is left of accessible Europe will be all afloat with Americans and American money. And that isn’t all. They say our imported Europeans who earn wages here will be going home after the war by the hundred thousand to take'the places of the dead. It is going to be violently interesting to watch the re- adjustment of mankind after the prodigious shake-up of the Great War. WHICH DO YOU PREFER? SMITH DRUNK OR SMITH comicbooks.com