Life, 1917-02-22 · page 42 of 42
Life — February 22, 1917 — page 42: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page mixes advertising with light satirical content typical of early 20th-century Life magazine. **"Diplomacy" poem** satirizes diplomatic correspondence with the German Kaiser (Wilhelm II), likely during World War I tensions. The escalating "Ultimata" and "Ulti-Ulti-Ultimata" mock the repetitive, escalating demands between nations—culminating in the Kaiser being "buried under" layers of diplomatic notes. The joke references both diplomatic breakdown and the Kaiser's notorious aggressiveness. **"A Busy Man"** is a rural humor piece: a farmer simultaneously makes hay (traditional saying) AND grows mushrooms in the dark—a joke about industriousness taken absurdly far, or possibly alluding to something illicit (mushroom cultivation being secretive work). **"Kaiser neglected to leave standing order"** references the Kaiser's failure to maintain proper German newspaper subscriptions—mocking him as negligent, with "*Schrecklichkeit*" (German brutality) being the satirical consequence. It's a comedic jab at German imperial carelessness. The page is primarily **advertising for Cook's Champagne and Vanity Fair magazine**, using satirical framing to appeal to sophisticated readers.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
ENJOY the souls of grapes touched | laughingly by | the hand of ! time—order | Cook's Imperial Extra Dry —the | all-American Diplomacy THEY sent the King a bunch of Ui mata ; The Messenger was non persona grata. A second lot of Ulti-Ultimata Were marked by certain manifest errata. A third, of Ulti-Ulti-Ultimata, Omitted several prime desiderata. Now, over his medulla oblongata That King is buried under many strata Of Ulti-Ulti-Ulti-Ultimata ! A Busy Man “Dumdum is a busy farmer.” “ Makes hay while the sun shines, eh?” “Yep, and raises mushrooms in the dark."—Louisville Courier-Journal. 'HE Kaiser has neglected to leave a standing order with the Imperial newsdealer to forward Lire to the Grand Headquarters regularly. Hence the Schrecklichkeit. Champagne~—it | Knows no duty | but to please you. Six Months of Vanity Fair will Enable you to Ignite a Dinner Party at Fifty Yards Sold Everywhere — Served Everywhere. American Wine Co. St. Louts, U. S. A. Don't be a Social Gloom. Don’t be an intellectual Wet Blanket. Don’t kill the dinner stone dead along about the chicken okra or the baked sea bass. Enjoy it all the way from the cocktails and caviar clear through to the coffee and Coronas. Make others enjoy it. Vanity Fair will act as your passport to popularity. It will teach you how to write vers-libre on your shirt-bosom; how to wear a tiara without hatpins; and how to’ tell a Newport dowager from a sea-lion. In short, it will keep you in touch with everything stimulating, novel and amusing in the brilliant kaleidoscope of American life. Dry Vanity Fair costs 25 cents a copy—$3 a year. There is | more joyous fun-making and mental stimulation in one | single copy than in fourteen yards of Bergson or Ralph | Waldo Emerson. Yet, if you do not know Vanity Fair, or would like to know it better, you may have six whole copies for an insignificant dollar bill. . Six Months of Vanity Fair for $1 Stop where you are! Tear off that Coupon! VANITY FAIR, 449 Fourth Avenue, New York City ‘ I want to go through life with my mind open; to keep my sympathies warm; to keep is touch with the newest and liveliest influences of modem life. Therefore, I want you to send me the next six numbers of Vanity Fair. My favorite dollar is inclosed. Visitor: WiMy DON'T YE TELL THEM SOMEBODY ELSE DID 1T? “PETER J. CAREY, PRIN comicbooks.com