Life, 1920-02-26 · page 30 of 40
Life — February 26, 1920 — page 30: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains multiple satirical pieces reflecting early 20th-century American concerns: **"King Solomon's Sculptor"** (top cartoon): A sculptor complains to a king about the impossibility of creating a likeness pleasing all his wives—a joke about satisfying diverse audiences or stakeholders. **"Mother" cartoon** (center): Parents cannot afford a church wedding during wartime inflation (note references to "Victory notes" and Liberty Bonds), but offer to fund an elopement instead—satirizing economic hardship and inverted priorities during what appears to be WWI-era rationing. **"Extract from a Future History"**: A satirical prediction that servant-girl jokes were so entrenched in humor that legislators required a constitutional amendment (the "802nd") to ban them—mocking both the prevalence of domestic-worker stereotypes and the difficulty of eliminating ingrained cultural attitudes. The page also promotes Life's "Fresh Air Fund," sending poor New York tenement children to the countryside—reflecting Progressive Era charitable concerns about urban poverty and child welfare.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
374 Even at This Time of the Year S yet there are no signs of sum- mer in the air, but, if we may be sure of anything, we may be sure that summer will come, and with it the sultry, torrid nights that bring torture to the little, poor children of New York's tenements. Even now, with winter still lingering with us, Lire’s generous readers are mindful of their power to lessen the misery of the chil- dren who cannot help themselves, and we are therefore able to acknowledge the receipt of the necessary funds from Mr. and Mrs. John J. Lincoln of Elkhorn, West Virginia, to establish FRESH AIK ENDOWMENT NO, 159 In Memory of Liovo Stantey Lin- coLN, born July zoth, 1900; died Febru- ary . 1911; this fund being amount of his savings account From George A. Burd, Esq., New York City, to establish FRESH AIR ENDOWMENT NO, 160 In the names of Mr. and Mrs. Grorcr W. Buro, King Solomon's Sculptor: 0 K1 I TRUST THAT YOUR MAJESTY WILL REALIZE THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF GETTING A LIKE! S THAT WILL PLEASE ALL YOUR MAJESTY’s wives! To establish a Fresh Air Endowment two hundred dollars in Victory notes or Liberty Loan 434-per-cent. bonds should be sent by registered mail to Live's first Street, New York City. A check amount provides that every summer, in Fresh Air Fund, Inc. 17 West Thirty: will do as well, The income from this perpetuity, a poor child will be sent from the slums of New York for a fortnight’s stay in the fresh air of the country A Fresh Air Endowment may bear any designation its donor chooses. Extract from a Future History T must not be supposed that the ser- vant-girl joke was prohibited without a struggle. Indulged in by every pro- fessional humorist and column writer, it had such a firm hold on all classes that it was deemed impossible to dis- lodge it. After a legislative fight la ing two years, however, in which every embittered cook took part, the barriers were broken, and the Eight Hundred and Second Amendment to the Consti- tution made it the law of the land All in the Family ia ERE’S an Englishman who com- plains that Great Britain has been criticized by an American.” “Doesn't he realize that’s only one of our w of advertising an article one wants to push? AFFORD TO GIVE YOU A CHURCH WEDDING; BUT WE'LL PAY ALL HONEYMOON Mother: 1SABEL, FATHER AND I FEEL THAT AT PRESENT PRICES WE CAN'T GoMETIMES a man's friends are EXPENSES IF YOU'LL ARRANGE TO ELOPE his limitations. comicbooks.com