Life, 1916-04-06 · page 23 of 80
Life — April 6, 1916 — page 23: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three separate satirical pieces from Life magazine (likely WWI era, based on Belgian references). **"His Wife's Portrait"**: A joke about an artist painting a woman's portrait so unflattering that the husband asks him to "tone it down"—the humor lies in the wife's implied ugliness. **"Their Finish"**: A darker piece referencing Dante's *Inferno*. It condemns "peace-at-any-price Americans" who prioritized profits over protesting Germany's invasion of Belgium, now suffering in a "specially made German hell"—satirizing American isolationism and profiteering during WWI as moral cowardice. **"Her Reference"** and **"The Best-Seller"**: Unrelated brief humorous pieces—one mocking French maids citing loose job references, the other criticizing best-selling authors as manufacturers of pseudo-intellectual noise dressed up by advertising rather than genuine literature. The page reflects Life's role as a vehicle for sophisticated social and political commentary mixed with lighter humor.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
HIS WIFE'S PORTRAIT The Husband: 11 PROMISES WELL. Artist: yes! IT WILL BE A SPEAKING LIKENESS. “ER—PERHAPS YOU'D BETTER TONE IT DOWN JUST A LITTLE.” Their Finish DASTE: What sufferers are these? Bratrict: Those are the peace-at-any-price Americans who, rather than protest about Belgium, preferred their country should make all the money she could. They are now enjoying themselves in a specially made German hell. Her Reference ADAM: Have you any references? Tne Frexcn Matw: Zee husband of zee lady where I last worked he give me an automobile. The Best-Seller HE best-seller is a combination of words arranged in such a way that the public will think the ideas they represent are something new. A best-seller differs from a comic opera in that it has a plot. But it is like a comic opera in that its “ business” has béen arranged by the management The author of every best-seller is a man who through long years of toil has been trained to make a noise like literature. The measure in which he falls short is more than made up by the advertisements. comicbooks.com