Life, 1919-08-07 · page 40 of 44
Life — August 7, 1919 — page 40: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains **advertisements and satirical fiction** rather than political cartoons. The main ad promotes **Ross's Imported Ginger Ale from Belfast**, arguing that higher cost reflects superior quality—a straightforward commercial pitch. The text pieces are humorous social commentary typical of Life's satirical style: 1. **"Mallard and My Aunt May"**: A story mocking modern art pretension, where a painter's abstract work is so obscure the narrator can't identify what it depicts (a lady, an eel, or merely "qualms"). 2. **"A Perfect Husband"**: A satirical portrait of marital submission, where a wife celebrates her husband's "ideal" nature by describing how she accommodates his every whim—the joke being that she's actually describing a controlling, domineering partner while calling it perfection. 3. **"Commuting in airships"**: A brief quip suggesting that if airship travel allowed bringing home London cooks, the danger would be worthwhile—poking fun at both aviation risks and domestic cooking standards. The humor relies on irony and observational satire about 1920s social conventions.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Enthusiastic Amateur Distiller: ves, TAKE SOME REET TOPS, A LITTLE crum PLENTY OF RAISINS, SOME YEAST, ax IT FERMENT. MOST OF THE novs BETTER THAN HAIG & HAIG AT 175 Best, Mallard and My Aunt May ITH considerable astonishment | read of Mallard’s sudden den- tion to fame. Some futurist pain of his were on exhibition at the Aad emy, and the critics, it apy so lavish in his pr completely out of adjectives. I resolved forthwith to pay a of congratulation to Besides, he owed me “My dear fellow,’ when I called at his cozy flat, “ delighted to see you again you like my latest work, ‘Lady ticing an Arpeggio’?" He handed re a picture-puzzle which someho' minded me of a route-march. “Marvelous,” I said. “I suppose the trick is to find the lady. Ha, ha!’ With a look of supreme disdain, Ma lard next offered to my inated ¢ ftheimported some rather extraordinary portry BELFAST seat a | Ginger Ale = (a) Cow jumping over the mom a | pam | A beverage may not be better just be- cause it costs more. ROSS’S, the Im- ported Ginger Ale, costs more because it is better. ROSSS | | = | | = | | a a | | | — | | = a | =| a | | | a | a = em | a a am | 3 | | | | | | | | (neither cow nor moon evident) (b) An infuriated eel (no eel) (c) Qualms. “TI suppose, Mallard,” I said, cast) IY my eye over the furniture in a & tached manner, “I suppose these—- A Perfect Husband against my entertaining any of my own aid Mrs. Meek at the Wom- friends or relatives, but we all have an’s Club, “John makes a model our little failings, and, taking it all in husband. If I never cook anything all—and you can say what you please— but what he likes, if I never want him I call my John an ideal husband.” to go anywhere he doesn’t want to, and never ask him for money, why, he is the easiest man to get along with OMMUTING in airships will not that I ever saw. Of course he is a be such a hazardous occupation, little fussy about his mending, and I after all, if there is a chance of carry- often have to do his silk shirts over a ing home a good cook from London few times, and he has a wee prejudice occasionally. comicbooks.comul