Life, 1919-06-26 · page 35 of 43
Life — June 26, 1919 — page 35: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page combines advertisements with a satirical short story titled "The Diagnosis." The humor centers on a doctor's outdated prescription for a patient's "brain fag" (mental exhaustion)—advice to abandon all mental work and get fresh air. The joke's payoff comes when the doctor learns the patient hasn't done serious intellectual work in five years; instead, he writes movie scenarios. The doctor's bafflement that screenwriting doesn't count as "brain work" satirizes the cultural hierarchy of the 1920s, where literary work was considered intellectually legitimate while popular entertainment (cinema) was dismissed as frivolous. The accompanying Liberty Six automobile ad then offers a gentle counterpoint: quality and superiority reveal themselves unmistakably in the first ten minutes—a subtle jab at the doctor's inability to recognize the intellectual merit in modern popular culture. The page otherwise features period advertisements: the Motrola phonograph, Cuesta-Rey cigars, and brief theatrical gossip about new plays.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Th Motrola Winds any make or model phonograph electrically. ily attached maring Iwork--por= JONES-MOTROLA, Inc. 29 West 35th St. 57 E. Jackson Bivd. New York Chicago The Diagnosis ps INIA and jangling nerves had dicen me to the doctor. Perhaps I should have gone to a specialist, a r, who would have been un- with my personal habits and existence. But instead I con- aultes| the old family physician You are suffering from brain fai | at once. s tremendously flattered; at the - 1 was wonderfully relieved Thad thought my condition more seri- ous. CHE moment you recognize the difference in the way the Liberty “Live in the open, Fresh air and ‘ a . plenty of exercise are the only tonics rides and drives—you know, also, why you need.” it is making such wonderful records in diols iteweL, felt better already. if standing up, and in economical mileage. wanted to go fishing, anyhow. 1 posi- 2. f tively smiled—smiled for the — first Superiority so marked as that which time in weeks. shows itself unmistakably in the first Leave your work behind,” he said. ten minutes can’ only conie from quality “Give your mind an absolute rest. : : : : : Do »o writing. Abandon all brain deeply imbedded in design, in material, work. I should say your whole trou- and in construction. ble lies in the fact that you have been doing entirely too much brain work.” Liberty Motor Car Company, Detroit ‘This time my smile expanded, It “Cet out of doors,” he advised. ne a grin, then developed into a le, then T actually roared with Iter Vhere do you get that stuff?" 1 demanded, He looked puzzled. “ Your literary labors,” he explained. “You are still xed in literary work, are you When T assured him that I had done B i JR | ‘ | Exclusive | no brain work for at least five years, Havano Cigar that I now confined my output to the MADE IN BOND manufacture of moving-picture sce- Use CUARCRTSE narios, he couldn't seem to understand, ACAD FUEMUETE STARPIONIEAEH GOK It is really remarkable how stupid - - doctors are, outside their own profes- Cuesta-REY pe sah TAMPA — since 1804 - Shona a — NAGER: So you've a couple of STANDS new plays? Really new? Praywricnt: Well, one is a war drama without a German spy, and the other a comedy farce without a bed- room scene. comicbooks.com