Life, 1920-02-12 · page 14 of 44
Life — February 12, 1920 — page 14: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes social mishaps at a charity ball. The main cartoon ("If She Would Stop and Think") shows a woman in fur coat standing near a fire hydrant—a visual pun suggesting she might be mistaken for a dog. The article "What Always Happens at the Annual Charity Ball" catalogs comedic incidents: Bobbie Boob's torn shirt, Minnie Flatfoot's stepped-on feet, Lucy Loose's dropped handkerchief, and Angie Awkward falling during a fox-trot. The second cartoon depicts Cupid with a heart labeled "To my VALENTINE," likely mocking sentimental expressions. The satire targets upper-class social pretensions and the inevitable embarrassments that occur despite efforts at sophistication—a common Life magazine theme mocking the wealthy.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
What Always Happens at the Annual Chanty Ball OBBIE BOOB, the town’s fattest youth, spills quantities of refresh- ments on his open-faced shirt. Minnie Fish’s cumbersome feet are stepped on as usual in nearly every dance, and as usual, she blames her pain upon her clumsy partners. Melvin Mossback exudes an odor of camphor as he ambles about the room, owing to the fact that his fifteen-year- old dress suit has been in stor- age since the last holiday sea- son, Lucy Loose drops her hand- kerchief in the middle of every dance or so, and nearly breaks up the party by stopping im- mediately and making her part- ner search all over the floor for it. The caterer manages to im- pregnate at least half of the ice cream with salt. Angie Awkward falls in the midst of a fox LF SHE WOULD STOP AND THINK trot with a dull thud, and after blam- ing the occurrence on a tight shoe, re- fuses to dance during the rest of the evening. Susie Sensational is discovered on the back stairs taking a puff from her partner’s cigarette, and this scandal constitutes the main topic of conversa- tion for the rest of the dance. Nicholas Nutt, who has just returned from the metropolis, tries to teach his partner some of the latest steps, and creates extensive traffic congestion At the conclusion of the ball, two young men nearly come to blows ove their priority rights to one of th town's ten icabs. While they ar noisily arguing the matter a third young man slips his pa ner into the taxi and escapes The ball managers find that the affair has been a tremen- dous success, the receipts total ing enough to pay all expenses and leave eight dollars ani fifty-six cents for charity! “HAVE you any wun- married daughters ? “Well, present.” not just at comicbooks.com