Life, 1918-07-04 · page 21 of 36
Life — July 4, 1918 — page 21: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This 1920s *Life* magazine page satirizes wealthy Manhattan excess during the Jazz Age. "That Young Girl" mocks a real court case where a young heiress sought to increase her trust allowance from $12,500 to $20,880 annually, claiming she couldn't survive on her current income despite spending $3,000/year on clothes alone and $5,000 on automobiles. The satire targets the absurdity of the wealthy's spending habits and entitlement. The reference to "Bolsheviki" reflects post-WWI anxiety about communist revolution threatening property rights—implying such wasteful excess might provoke social upheaval. The second cartoon, "A Modest Flower," jokes about an actor wanting anonymity while simultaneously demanding credit as "America's greatest actor"—satirizing vanity and hypocrisy. The caption about being "dead as out of fashion" reinforces themes of superficiality in fashionable society.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
oy THE HORSE 1S THE FRIEND OF MAN That Young Gil interest in the property belongs to her, and so GIRL in New York whose father will the property itself in due course of time. left her over a million in trust What the Bolsheviki may do to us in time no- has applied to the surrogate’s court to body knows, but until they get the upper hand have her allowance increased from — property rights are respected. This young $12,500 to $20,880 a y She spends — girl could undoubtedly live on $500 a year for herself $3,000 a year for clothes, if she had to. That she is any happier $5,000 for automobiles, $3,000 for for having a lot of money than she would travel and $2,000 for tuition—these be without it is a question over items, of course, being only the prin- which philosophers and econo- cipal ones among several othe She mists have been debating for says she cannot maintain herself on — centuries. $12,500 a year, There has been some emphasis on this case in the papers, because the ex- A Modest Flower penditures of a wealthy young person “YOU wish to re- a are always exciting to the majority of main entirely readers. In this particular instance, unknown?” however, the young girl is not to blame “As it is for chari- for seeking a larger income. In pro- ty, yes. Just bill me portion to what she has been spend- as America’s greatest ing, she needs more, for the cost of actor, and let it go at “you KNOW, FRITZ, THAT ANYONE MIGHT AS WELL BE luxuries has been steadily rising. The — that.” DEAD AS OUT OF FASHION”