Life, 1917-02-22 · page 29 of 42
Life — February 22, 1917 — page 29: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This Life magazine page contains two satirical pieces mocking early 20th-century cultural trends. **Top cartoon ("Methuselah"):** An elderly man pitches a "patent elixir of youth" to what appears to be an ancient biblical figure. This satirizes the era's proliferation of bogus anti-aging products and snake-oil salesmen promising fountain-of-youth remedies to wealthy consumers. **"The Iconoclast" story:** The piece ridicules the artistic avant-garde and modernist movement. Hercules Pollidore, a "modernist poet," performs absurd acts (diving into inkwells, writing sonnets upside-down) that he presents as revolutionary rule-breaking. The satire's punchline: when he breaks a beer stein, the bar owner simply charges him 15 cents—treating his "artistic rebellion" as ordinary destruction requiring payment. This mocks how modernists justified shocking behavior as artistic innovation, while ordinary people saw it as mere vandalism. The final anecdote about "Bilter" shifts tone, offering practical business advice rather than satire.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Methuselah: “THE PROPRIETOR OF A PATENT ELIXIR OF YOUTH, O MASTER! S FOR THY TESTIMONIAL.” SHEK' The Iconoclast T was at Henry the Longshoreman’s place in the Village the other night. Without a word of warning Hercules Pollidore, the modernist poet, sprang up, and with a blood- curdling yell, flung himself headlong into the inkwell. “T will do it,” he cried, “I will, I will!” When he came back he had written a sonnet upside down! Fancy, a sonnet upside down! The sestet ahead of the octave! A delightful shudder ran through us at the supreme daring of the thing. But Hercules stood on his head, and did the thing again and again, like an acrobat! We gasped. mo ccellZ, rts WHO IS IT THAT CRAVETH AN AUDIENCE WITH ME? WOULD OFFER THEE MANY “I do not make rules,” shricked Hercules, his eyes whirling hungrily, “I break them!” Suiting the action to the word he broke one of Henry's steins into a thousand pieces. But Henry, the Philistine, charged him fifteen cents for it Earl Simonson. DON'T see how Bilter makes such a success of his business when he is av from his office so much.” “That's why—a man can't afford to stay in his office these day If he makes a success he’s got to think, and he can’t think when he's interrupted.” comicbooks.com