Life, 1918-04-25 · page 12 of 40
Life — April 25, 1918 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page from *Life* magazine presents post-WWI Berlin commentary through two sections: **Top section**: Text about Bill Hohenzollern (likely a satirical reference to Kaiser Wilhelm II or German nobility) and Berlin's post-war transformations—the Royal Palace becoming a tabernacle, Billy Sunday's evangelical revival meetings drawing crowds, and twenty-three former German military conductors now leading the Berlin Subway orchestra. **"Late Bloomers" illustration**: Shows women in period dress, apparently depicting post-war Berlin's changing social dynamics. **Bottom section**: "His Training" discusses military recruit bayonet training in boarding houses. The satire mocks Germany's post-war upheaval—religious revival replacing imperial authority, militarism persisting in civilian life, and social disruption. The tone is darkly humorous about Germany's struggling transition from imperial power to Weimar Republic.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Berlin Locals (After the War) HOHENZOLLERN in_ his in the Zoo must not be fed Bi cage with peanuts by little girls and boys. The police have stopped the practice. Schonebe: n League Admission, Baseball to-day at three Polo rounds, Ba against Saxon Americans. 23 pffffninnnggs. he Royal Palace has been donc over into a tabernacle, and Billy Sunday’s drive will begin there next week. Billy expects to convert about four thousand daily, not including the old members of the Prussian Guard. There are, in all, twenty-three of these left, most of them conductors on the Berlin Subway. Ws ED: Jokes, to help end the war; cheerful jokes, joyful jokes, merry jokes, jokes with humor in them, pointed jokes and jokes that make you laugh. No jokes can now be slackers. but must work day and night in the common cause. Each joke will be ex- pected to do more than his bit. If you are beyond the age limit, put ot new clothes, change your face and take your place in the camouflage line Somebody hasn't heard about you, and you will do him good. Also, he ready not only to work in the trenches, hut new some “1 THOUGHT YOU SAID THE FOREIGN GINK WAS A SPY AND THAT HE WAS TO. UNRISE, ‘AS, BUT A FOG AND THEY WASN'T NO SUNRIS! ED IN, LATE BLOOMERS to go over the top. Every joke that has hitherto led a life of ease, perhaps idling his time away in some country town, should now take off his coat and work to keep up the spirits of every- body else. Remember, a solemn re- sponsibility devolves upon each one of you. Small jokes and large jokes, rich jokes and poor jokes, white, black and piebald, moth-caten and fresh, every joke in which there is a ray of sun- shine must now do his duty and help beat Germany. And remember, there is no danger of your being taken prisoner, as no German would know you if he saw you, unless you were a practical joke. His Training FFICER: How did you happen to attain such proficiency in bayonet- thrusting when you have never had any previous army experience? Recruit: I got it in a boarding- house, reaching the length of the table for a piece of steak. comicbook