Life, 1916-03-02 · page 18 of 44
Life — March 2, 1916 — page 18: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**"Old Home Week in New York"** is a satirical piece mocking both the city's self-congratulatory civic celebration and its endemic corruption and dysfunction. The article uses absurdist humor to expose hypocrisy: Wall Street closes so hotel workers rest; theaters open six rows to common people as "generosity"; officials given a parade are those who *didn't* embezzle (parade lasts "almost one-tenth of a block"—implying almost no honest officials exist); taxicab drivers compete on overcharging; and Saturday's promise of no street deaths is abandoned halfway through because people are "habituated" to dying in traffic. **The two cartoons** illustrate the saying "apparel oft proclaims the man"—a woman's fine clothing suggests respectability in the first panel, but the second shows this tells nothing about actual character ("but not always"). **The "Next" section** jokes that Lloyd's insurance against appendicitis means society's real need is insurance against doctors themselves—a jab at medical incompetence or over-treatment. The satire targets urban corruption, class hypocrisy, and public safety failures.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
390 ae Old Home Week in New York AST week was Old Home Week in New York. All re- ported a good time. Wall Street was closed all day Monday, in order that the headwaiters at the hotels could have a complete rest. Several of our leading hotels opened up their palm-rooms to the public at the noon hour, and let anybody sit down anywhere in them, thus bringing together many people who had never met each other before. On Tuesday night the first six rows in all the theatres were thrown open to the public, anybody who had the price being permitted to sit within these six rows by ap- plying at the box office. In recognition of their public spirit, the Mayor presented the theatrical managers with the freedom of all the reservoirs in the vicinity. On Wednesday our millionaires were given a New Eng- land boiled dinner, and were permitted to shake hands with a committee of our respectable citizens. They were made very happy. On Thursday there was a grand parade of all the offi- cials connected with the city government who had never taken more than their share of the city funds, and who had worked for the city without regard to their own ends. The parade extended for a distance of almost one-tenth of a block. On Friday there was a grand guessing contest of all the city taxicab drivers as to who could charge the most in a given time. This was attended by a vast crowd of ap- preciative customers, each one of whom had a pet taxicab driver and wished to see him win. Saturday was a day set apart in which nobody was to be killed in the streets. Everybody agreed not to be killed except a few obstinate people who said they had gotten into the habit and didn’t want to be disappointed. THE APPAREL OFT PROCLAIMS THE Citizen: 1 KNOW WHAT WE'VE FORGOTTEN! ONE OF THOSE THINGS YOU SHOOT WITH. “A GUN? MY, YES. ISN’T THERE A LOT TO THINK OF?” So, in order to respect their wishes, the time was cut down to half a day. Sunday was set apart as a day of complete rest, every- thing being wide open except the moving-pictures. T. L. M. Next The Lloyd's of London have recently issued a form of insurance against appendicitis—News item, THe only thing we need now is insurance against doctors. BUT NOT ALWAYS comicbooks.com