Life, 1920-02-05 · page 14 of 52
Life — February 5, 1920 — page 14: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page features a trivia quiz mocking American knowledge and culture. The questions target contemporary blindspots: a journalist's harmful influence on American public opinion, a major city's corrupt mayor, a country's hostility toward the U.S., the value of paper currency during economic decline, and ten million Americans' nightly entertainment choice. The "Wood Alcohol" section satirizes Prohibition's unintended consequence—people drinking toxic substitutes. "Three Players" uses a card game metaphor for life's forces: War, Love, and Wit, with Wit as the clever mediator. "The Point of View" presents a squirrel's observation about exercise—a gentle philosophical joke about perspective and learned behavior. The illustrations by G. Axe accompany these satirical pieces criticizing contemporary American society and values.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“LIFE- How Much Do You Know ? (If you can answer correctly all of the questions given below, then with- out doubt you are an average American.) HAT is the name of that man who, during the present generation, has had the most pernicious in- fluence upon American journalism? What large city on the North American con- tinent is it whose inhabitants generally are ashamed of their mayor? During what administration was it that a certain a miral reproved a certain Secretary of the Navy and was hacked up by public opinion? Give the name of a certain famous poet who, on a visit to this country, was the victim of so much vulgar toadyism as to disgust decent: Americans? The inhabitants of a certain country are in the habit of killing and imprisoning with impunity citizens of the United States. Give the name of this country, and state how many decades it will be, in your opinion, before anything is done about it What is the name of that invisible thing, generally repre- sented by a piece of oblong green paper, that cannot be eaten and has no value in itself, yet has lost nearly two thirds of its value in the last five years? What is that which is not art, which is not literature, which is not drama and which is not humor, and yet which ten million people in the United States go to see every evening ? Give in their proper order the names of those cities in the United States that are noted for: Fleas? Disloyal policemen? Hotel robberies? Congressional bolshevists ? Baby carriages? Soot? Boulevards? Flivvers? Who tampered with the mail What animal is it that wears furs in summer, silk stock- ings in winter, goes without clothes half the time, and s more money than any other in the world? OOD ALCOHOL —A remedy inaugurated by Prohibi- tion as a substitute for the good times we used to have Son (who takes up collection in Sunday school): sav MA! THAT NEW KID DIDN'T PUT IN ANY MONEY TO-DAY. BUT NEXT SUNDAY I'LL SEE THAT HE poES! Three Players IFE is a great card table around which there are alway> three players. They are War, Love and Wit War and Love never play on the level. They are old sharps, one always having a King of Clubs up his sleeve and the other a Queen of Hearts palmed. Wit sits between them, blowing the smoke of endl cigarettes into the air. He knows both his companions in the game are crooked but he smiles and smiles and is never a villain. The Point of View A SQUIRREL cage was hung up in a forest “How quiet those fellows are out there,” said the squirrel inside as he took another whirl. “They have “HIS MASTER'S VOICE” never learned how to exercise.” comicbooks.com