Life, 1919-03-20 · page 11 of 44
Life — March 20, 1919 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**Top Cartoon:** An informative old gentleman tells a bored doughboy (WWI soldier) that a large bird at the zoo is a pelican. The doughboy replies he thought it was a canary the whole time. This is a simple visual joke about mistidentification—the bird's enormous bill makes it obviously a pelican, not a canary, mocking the doughboy's lack of observation. **"Uncalled-for Pessimism" Article:** Reviews Morrison J. Swift's book "Can Mankind Survive?" The piece humorously catalogs pessimistic bestsellers (Philadelphia Sunday, women's fashion books, etc.), arguing that even ants and bees demonstrate intelligence and survival capability. This mocks contemporary doom-and-gloom literature as overwrought. **Bottom Comic:** Shows domestic chaos—a returning husband observes his wife's housekeeping disorder, complaining there's too much disorder.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Informative Old Gentleman: You SEE THAT BIRD WITH THE VERY LARGE BILL? THAT IS A PELICAN, Bored Doughboy: you von’t say! AN’ ME THINKIN’ ALL THE TIME IT WAS A CANARY! Uncalled-for Pessimism “(CAN Mankind Survive?” is the piquant title of a book by Mor- rison J. Swift, which is being widely Ivertised and reviewed. There are many reasons why man- kind should keep on surviving in spite of such pessimistic books. Has man not given us the hairpin, the Philadelphia Sunday, the mysteri- ous pockets in the dresses of women, the “best seller,” the collar button, the Peace Palace, the bootlegger and the sentimental “ movie"? Ingenious as the bees and the ants they can point to no such triumphs elligence. EX! Falstaff; enter Falseface. Bolshevik (returning home): OLGA, IT 1S PLAIN YOU HAVEN'T CAUGHT THE SPIRIT OF THE CAUSE, THERE IS TOO MUCH ORDER IN THIS HOUSE comicbooks.com