Life, 1920-07-22 · page 28 of 40
Life — July 22, 1920 — page 28: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three separate satirical pieces mocking American culture circa the 1920s: 1. **"From the Diary of a Popular Fiction Editor"** mocks editors who censor intellectual content from magazine fiction, treating readers as fragile-minded. The editor boasts of preventing any story with ideas or realistic characters from publication, fearing readers might strain their intellects. 2. **"Nuff Sed"** satirizes used car salesmen's deceptive practices. A man describes his decrepit automobile as "just as good as new" while listing catastrophic mechanical failures—broken shaft, cracked engine, faulty ignition—yet claims it runs without excessive fuel consumption. The joke exposes how salesmen obscure obvious defects with casual dismissal. 3. **Two brief jokes**: One connects nicotine poisoning to rabbit mortality; another references **Nicholas Murray Butler's** failed presidential campaign, suggesting academic credentials damaged his political viability. The bottom illustration shows a car with a sail, captioning rising gasoline prices as a problem requiring creative solutions.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
B See WHAT WE MAY EXPECT TO SEE IF THE From the Diary of a OW careful I mately four million of my fellow human beings rely upon me to select the fiction they are to read. There are times by the heavy responsibilities which rest must -be! Approxi- when I am appalled upon me. No one is more sensible than I of the incalculable harm which might be caused by even a slight mental exertion on the part of the readers of my magazine. 1 must be constantly on my guard lest something in some of my stories might have a téndency to appeal to the intellect I realize keenly that the brains of our readers are exceedingly delicate and fragile, and that the slightest strain might result: in disaster. I am alw which the hero does not take the heroine in his arms at the end of the story. Sup- pose, in a moment of preoccupation, | should permit one of these. stories to be published. The shock to our readers might prove irreparable. I once read a manuscript in which the Nero was described as being under six feet in height, and in which the heroine was spoken of as “a sensible but rather plain young person I myself went about my cffice in-a daze after reading that descriptive passage. I might have overlooked it and published the story. What a staggering blow I would have dealt our faithful subscribers! New authors are forever sneaking ideas ys receiving manuscripts in “PATCH 'EM AND WEAR 'EM” HITS OUR SEASIDE RESORTS MOVEMENT Popular Fiction Editor into their stories. I yield to no man in adherence to the principle that an idea is dangerous and to be shunned unless it has been expressed often enough to be- come a platitude. Yet I am only human, and therefore fallible. I sometimes fear that it is within the realm of possibility that I may not recognize see it. How careful I must be! n idea when [ Nuff Sed SUPPOSE you think I'm enough to buy that broken-down old foolish automobile!" “ Broken-down nothing! With the ex- ception of a busted drive-shaft, a cracked crank-case, a loose steering-wheel, a bum battery, a differen: faulty ignition, it is just as good as new al and dilapidated Outside of buying four sets of tires, three new springs, a new top, two rear axles, a couple of batteries, having the valves ground sixteen times, the clutch tightened every week and the self-starter repaired at now and then, I have never spent one The old boat hasn't been run for repairs. mile over one hundred thousand, will average fourteen gallons to the mile, and absolutely will not exceed miles an hour. It has an ext coat of paint, and is fully equip a hand pump and a switch-key. of the difficulty in shifting gears, 1 ab- solutely guarantee your wife will never be able to drive it, and—” “Never mind the rest. All Explained It says here that ten grains twenty-five fine new pped with Because I'll take it! UNIOR of nicotine will kill a rabbit! Senior: Yes; that’s why yor pbit_ smoking. " never see HE Nicholas Murray Butler Pr dential boom had a hard time of It had the misfortune to have come f om an academic forest. A SUGGESTION IF GASOLINE KEEPS GOING UP