Life, 1919-12-25 · page 14 of 37
Life — December 25, 1919 — page 14: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The top cartoon depicts classical/mythological figures (soldiers, sailors, and attendants) in a modern kitchen setting, captioned: "Imagine the dry feelings of Major Mars, 1st Infantry, and Captain Mercury, Aviation Service, on their return from overseas." **The joke:** The cartoon personifies classical gods (Mars=war, Mercury=travel/commerce) as military officers returning home from World War I. The humor lies in imagining these traditionally powerful deities reduced to domestic, mundane kitchen duties—a satirical comment on soldiers' anticlimatic readjustment to civilian life after combat. The lower section contains two brief humorous anecdotes about returning servicemen: one about a bass drummer who couldn't hit the drum in the middle, another questioning why the country isn't renamed "Fanatica." These mock soldiers' readjustment difficulties and post-war social oddities. The airplane photo appears illustrative rather than satirical.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
IMAGINE THE DRY FEELINGS OF MAJOR MARS, IST INFANTRY, AND CAPTAIN MERCURY, AVIATION SERVICE, ON THEIR RETURN FROM OVERSEAS. over to next month, if you like, and run in this science article on ‘Why Men Prefer Blondes.’ And I hope you and the highbrows will be satisfied!” Mr. Moush walked up and down the room, and smiled and nodded with self-approval. “We are certainly showing the greatest’ magazine ever published!” Portly oA HAT has become of the man wh used to beat the big bass drur ked the returning citizen. “He left us more than a year ago,” was the answer, od man, wasn’t he?” “Sure! But he got so fat that when he marched he couldn't hit the drum in the middle.” Ww not rename this country Fa- natica? WHY WILLIE WANTS AN AEROFLANE