Life, 1920-07-22 · page 30 of 40
Life — July 22, 1920 — page 30: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This Life magazine page contains two distinct elements: **Left side:** Two cartoons depicting a landlord-tenant interaction. A man in a top hat (the landlord) serves notice on a tenant, who responds with working-class dialect ("nev!"). Below, a child asks if an adult could draw a picture "as good as that," and the adult claims "i kin!"—satirizing overconfidence and American boastfulness. **Right side:** A column titled "We Want to Know" lists rhetorical questions about American knowledge gaps and social pretension. It mocks people who use fashionable words ("psycho-analysis," "Bolsheviki," "mandate") without understanding them, baseball etiquette, political ignorance, and people's false claims about their abilities (golf, bridge, reading). It also references Henry Cabot Lodge, the ouija board, artist Clare Briggs, and "Babe" Ruth. **The satire:** Life ridicules American cultural and intellectual pretension—people claiming knowledge, taste, or skill they don't possess; adopting trendy vocabulary without comprehension; and making tired conversational clichés. The overall message critiques American hubris and superficiality.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“nev! VM THE LANDLORD, “ALL RIGHT NOTICE ON YOU COME RICHT UP AND SERVE 11,” “GOODNESS, WILLIE! DON’T YE WISH YE COULD MAKE A PICTURE AS GOOD AS THAT?” “i kin!” We Want to Know— Statistics That the Census Experts Have Failed to Disclose OW many amateur conversationalists who use such words “mandate,” “ psycho-analysis,” “hectic” or “ Bolsheviki" have any idea of their correct meaning? How many baseball fans neglect to shout, “ Sign him!" when one of their number catches a foul ball which has been hit into the stands? How many voters know that Henry Cabot Lodge is not the inventor of the ouija board? How many self-styled patrons of the arts actually prefer John S. Sargent to Clare Briggs? How many permanent civilians don’t ask ex-soldiers whether they miss the old army life? How many persons constitute the average good-natured mob? How many golf players will admit that they are on their game? How many bridge players will admit that they are off theirs? How many humorists have not written jokes which start, “Daddie, what is an optimist?” How many supporters or opponents of the League of Nations know the contents of Article X? How many persons who enter various puzzle contests or lot- teries, and fail to win a prize, believe that said contest or lottery was not “ framed up”? How many comedians in musical plays have resisted the temptation to remark that the man who christened near beer was a poor judge of distance? How many visitors in New York have not been heard to remark that “this town may be all right for a week’s vacation, but I wouldn't live here if you gave me the place”? How many booklovers have read The Education of Henry Adams? How many have not read The Re-creation of Brian Kent? How many professional talkers who prefix their statements with “I'll tell the world” actually have anything of interest or importance to say? How many people know “ Babe Ruth’s first name?