Life, 1920-05-13 · page 21 of 52
Life — May 13, 1920 — page 21: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three separate jokes/cartoons typical of early 20th-century American humor: **"Why Are You Putting That In There, Ralph?"** depicts a woman hiding a wastebasket before a visiting poet arrives, joking that poets are supposedly too refined/sensitive to acknowledge such mundane household items. **"Compensation" and "A Man's a Man"** are brief one-liner jokes about social pretense—that refined people can be vulgar, and that women can be impartial rather than partial to male attention. **The antique dealer cartoon** satirizes inflation and merchant opportunism: a dealer raises prices between sales, blaming increased labor and material costs—a common post-WWI economic complaint. **"When Good Fellows Get Together"** depicts a conversation between Uncle Sam (representing the United States) and John Bull (representing Britain), discussing geopolitics and the Armenian question. The satire suggests both nations are pragmatic, self-interested, and mutually useful despite philosophical differences—mocking their pretense of moral consistency in foreign policy.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“WHY ARE YOU PUTTING THAT IN THERE, RALPH?” 1 WANT TO HIDE IT, DEAR, JIN THE POET, {OING TO DROP IN THIS EVENING, AND I FANCY HE 1S SOMEWHAT SENSITIVE ABOUT WASTE BASKETS.” A Man's a Man OLLY: Miss Yellowleaf is rather par- tial to the attentions of men, isn’t she? Dotty: I should say she was quite im- partial. Compensation \DAME FLUMMER is brilliant.” “And vulgar.” But she has her moments of refine- Customer: WHAT! FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS FOR THAT ANTIQUE? WHY, I PRICED IT LAST WEEK AND YOU SAID THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY, Dealer: yes, 1 KNOW ; BUT THE COST OF LABOR AND MATERIALS HAS GONE UP so! The Rider ]F 200 Fide down the wind, lf you haste with the star, Lo, I shall o’ertake you Wherever you are! For as swift as the wind, And as fleet as the star Is my love that shall reach you Wherever you are! Clinton Scollard When Good Fellows Get Together HE Exchange had closed for the day In a quiet room in the rear sat two The Both showed an old- gentlemen. One of them was portly other was thin. fashioned air, yet there was a_ solidity about them that The elder was the guest of the younger, who, revealed power. for the moment, betrayed his embarrass- ment “Sorry I can’t offer you anything,” he interrupted. “My dear fellow, I feel as badly about it as you. Don't mention it, I pray. Let us hope you'll get over it in time. Now, about Armenia. So far as that unfor- tunate country is concerned, you really can't expect me to be governed by any- thing but my traditional policy.” “Even Gladstone couldn't prevent that,” replied the host. “ You will be tolerating the Turk a thousand years from now— unless I can make you see the light. My friend, you are tegrity, high-mindedness, selfishness and materialism; with a strain of cant.” a queer mixture of in- conservatism, “Yes,T have hear all that before. I spare you my definition of your own occasiot ally admirable, if somewhat crude, per- sonality. But we're extremely useful to each other, and certainly we ought to hit it off, don't you think?” “T reckon we ought, if you can get me. It's likely to be difficult.” “You put me down as a swashbuckler, a tenderfoot in diplomacy, a mixture of shopkeeper and cowboy, with my pockets full of extremely useful cash, and yet—” “Go on,” said John Bull, puffing his brier. “And yet a little bit of all right,” re- sponded Uncle Sam; “much like your- self in many ways that are admirable, better worth combining with— on the whole—than others that one might mention.” and much “Get down to brass nails, old top what are you driving at? Just You seem to he comicbooks.com