Life, 1920-05-20 · page 21 of 48
Life — May 20, 1920 — page 21: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes early 20th-century gender dynamics and marriage through a domestic comedy sketch. The main cartoon depicts a wife (Sue) actively *forbidding* her husband from thinking, arguing that his contemplation will lead to independence and action—which would rob her of her identity as a self-sacrificing caregiver. The satire targets several things simultaneously: the intellectual passivity expected of husbands in traditional marriages; women's economic dependence forcing them to manufacture elaborate justifications for control; and the absurdity of this dynamic itself. Sue ironically reveals that her "selfishness keeps you in such condition to support us both so beautifully"—exposing the parasitic nature of the arrangement while framing it as devotion. The lower cartoon about a "Popular Beauty" preferring blondes appears to be separate social commentary on beauty standards and female competition. The piece satirizes 1920s gender relations and economic dependence through dark humor, presenting marriage as mutually destructive theater.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
-LIFE- 941 ’ : : 5 : —you have no time to think, You are making money, you have an occupation—deals, confercaces. Now I see it all. I must— Sue (grabbing him again): Stop! You must not. You must never think again. If I catch you thinking around this house, I’ll—I’ll choke you! He: Not to-night. 1 am too tired. Wait till to-morrow What harm is there in my thinking? I'm sure I didn’t mean to cause you any trouble. Sue: Do you want to ruin my life? Then keep on think- ing, and if you keep on you will want to act, and when you act then will come the end. You must never think again He: Why not? Sue (aside): I shall have to tell him, Listen, darling. Try to concentrate on my words, This is why you must not think again My life is full of business, but Iam still a woman, and in order that | may satisfy the feminine part that still remains, 1 must care for somebody, otherwise 1, too, would go mad my husband, and as long as you don’t think and don’t de * thing, I can fulfill my craving for waiting on you. But if you begin to think, you will want to act for yourself; then I shall have nobody to make sacrifices to, Therefore you must not think any more. Do you understand? Yes, dear, ] understand. Forgive me! Besides, thinking will only make you unhappy. Yes, ) How wonderful it is to feel that my selfish- s keeps you in such condition to support us both so beauti- Sue: Hush! It is time for you to go to the sandman Nighty-night! Tela A. “THANKS, OLD MAN; 1 DON'T SMOKE, BUT IF YOU DON’T MIND I'LL TAKE IT HOME TO THE GIRLS, Sur u're a dear (adjusts a pillow back of him). Back rt? He Well, you know what that limousine is. The creature at made that body ought to be shot. Sue (soothingly): There, there, don't get excited. Shall I ke off your shoes? He: Thanks, old puss. You're a nice one, all right. What ive you been doing with yourself all day? Busy, as usual? Sue: Tran about the Exchange this morning and pulled out couple of thousand. I had a deal on at noon—you know Igers? Nice girl, but a sharper, all right—we closed it up. old the warehouse in Brooklyn this afternoon; that took up couple of hours. Then there was a conference that— He: Please, dear, don't! You make me fairly dizzy. And onder. Sue (starting): You wonder? He: Yes. I wonder and wonder. Sue (fixing him with her eye): What have you been wonder- ? (Grabbing him.) You haven't been thinking, have you? He: Yes. I think I have been thinking. Sue (aside): It's come! You've been thinking—what of? He: Of life, of the world, of myself, of everything. I have “t1’s RATHER WARM IN HERE, ISN'T 17?” nothing to do but think—that’s what is the matter with me. If Popular Beauty (absently): po YoU REALLY MEAN THAT? | keep on thinking, I shall go mad. It is you who are so happy MOST MEN PREFER BLONDES, comicbooks.com