Life — March 27, 1919 — page 19: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This is a satirical cartoon about social obligation and competitive entertaining among the upper classes. Two well-dressed figures converse at what appears to be a formal party; the woman expresses determination to "get even" with the Blondleys by hosting them to dinner. The joke critiques how hospitality has become transactional rather than genuine—dinner invitations are treated as debts requiring repayment, a social arms race of entertaining rather than acts of kindness. The cartoon mocks the performative nature of upper-class socializing, where hosts calculate whether they've adequately reciprocated previous invitations. The title "Hospitality as It Is Practiced" emphasizes the gap between the ideal of gracious hospitality and the petty social accounting actually occurring.