Life, 1919-01-02 · page 23 of 34
Life — January 2, 1919 — page 23: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**Top cartoon:** A returning WWI soldier (Corporal Jenks) discovers his pre-war civilian clothes no longer fit after military service—a common post-war joke about how soldiers' bodies and lives had been transformed by combat. **"Cubist Poem":** This satirizes both Cubism (the avant-garde art movement) and the German Crown Prince. The poem mimics Gertrude Stein's fragmented, repetitive style while describing a "royal chinless rat"—likely caricaturing the Crown Prince as cowardly and rat-like. References to "Tron Crosses" (Iron Crosses, German military medals) and "cannon-fodder" mock his role sending soldiers to die. The final section—"Me next! Me next!"—suggests the Crown Prince's narcissistic delusions of grandeur. **Bottom cartoon:** "Sitting Up and Taking Nourishment" shows someone force-feeding a wrapped figure, appearing to reference post-war recovery or possibly mocking German defeat and forced compliance with peace terms. The page blends WWI commentary with artistic modernism mockery—typical of *Life* magazine's satirical approach.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
ON His RETURN TO CIVILIAN LIFE CORPORAL JENKS FINDS HIS FORMER CLOTHES RATHER UNSUITABLE Cubist Poem (After Gertrude Stein) CROWN PRINCE RAY ratty gray and a royal spindly chinlessness. A chinless grayness and a small ratty royal mustache \ chinless royal furtive smallness and a spindly gray rat A royal chinless intoxicated rat Scurry here, scurry there, turn twist squeak scrateh bite Dodge, jump, squeak, twist, turn, A hopeless squeaking is a glorious victoriousness and a severe kicking is a mag: nificent triumph, Cheers and Tron Crosses and sixty-five pounds of decorations and a cornered gray rat and several swift kicks. Me next! Me next! Stop, look, listen, watch, see me. Tam next, I am the whole show, look, look, bloc 1, blood guns, cannon-fodder, see my brave cannon-fodier, look, watch them die, watch them break through, Tam next, Tam great, Tam a mighty leader, Here is!) Wha royal chinless rat twisting and turning and squ Blood and a squeaky gray rat with bloody whiskers. “ SITTING UP AND TAKING NOUKISH MENT” comicbooks.com