Life, 1919-05-22 · page 27 of 42
Life — May 22, 1919 — page 27: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes bachelor life through contrasting sections: **"How a Bachelor Spends His Evenings"** presents two columns: what married friends *imagine* bachelors do (glamorous dinners, theater dates with attractive women, roulette gambling) versus reality ("How He Really Spends His Evenings")—eating alone, being rejected by women, attending comic opera solo, arguing with other bachelors about marriage, and spending quiet evenings clipping bond coupons. The joke targets the romantic fantasy married men project onto bachelor life versus the mundane, lonely reality. The illustration of a "famous author writing autographs to be sold after his demise for the benefit of his heirs" satirizes vanity and financial desperation. **"Mormon Mottoes"** is anti-Mormon humor playing on polygamy—the practice that defined the religion until the 1890s ban. The "mottoes" mock both the practice itself and suggest bachelors would find Utah appealing because marriage there means one wife among many, making commitment less binding. This reflects period anti-Mormon prejudice treating polygamy as inherently ridiculous.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
How a Bachelor Spends His Evenings rding to His Married Friends) INDAY.—Takes blonde to dinner mian restaurant. Dances y.—Is member of box party tre to see famous woman star is crazy about him, Throws bou- of orchids to her. uNespay. — Takes stenographer to the her hand during the show. vrspay,—Takes dinner with mar- might have married. sweet, young, movies. woman he nearly elopes with him. -Plays roulette all night, : several hundred dollars, With es demonstrates the fact that, who know the ways of the } world, Prohibition has no ter- IDAY Saturvay.—Dances with all the deb- tes and young married women at country club and breaks eight rts Npay.—Spends a quict evening in apartment, cutting coupons from rty bonds. cnings He Really Spends His lonpay.—Eats dinner alone in arm- MR. A. chair joint, cusses the waiter, and goes home early and to bed, as there is noth- ing else to do Tvesvay.—Asks three women to go to the theatre with him, and is turned down by all of them, Spends uncom- fortable evening alone at comic opera. Webxespay, Goes to the movies FAMOUS AUTHOR WRITING AUTOGRAPHS TO BE SOLD AFTER HIS DEMISE FOR THE EPIT OF HIS HEIRS STOCK BROKER 1S ORDERED TO THE COUNTRY FOR A CHANGE OF SCENE with another bachelor, Quarrels with companion over the age at which a man is too old to get married. Tuerspay.—Takes dinner with hus- band of woman he tried to. marry Finds hv “and so happy and prosper- ous it makes him sick Fripay.—Plays with a penny ante few other old scouts, and loses forty- two ce Saturpay, — Leaves country carly in the evening, after unsatis tory day at golf, as he doesn't know any of the new dances. Sunpay.—Decides it is a dreary old world and goes to bed early, as there is nothing else to do. Mormon Mottoes IGAMY will happen in the best of umilies, One good wife deserves another, When in doubt, marry a dozen Never put off till to-morrow the marrying you might be doing to-day A wife in your house is worth nine in your neighbor’ Oh, what is so rare as a bachelor in Utah? It's a wise Mormon that knows the names of all his wives. ever count up your wives before you have brushed up on your arith- metic. comicbooks.com