Life, 1920-08-26 · page 26 of 36
Life — August 26, 1920 — page 26: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three distinct satirical pieces: **"Vision-airy"** opens with a humorous poem about aeronautics, imagining a future where children arrive home muddy via aircraft—a joke about emerging aviation technology. **"The Ideal Summer Resort"** satirizes vacationist contradictions by listing mutually incompatible demands: a location must be isolated yet near shopping, expensive yet affordable, quiet yet entertaining like Coney Island, wild yet civilized. The satire mocks how tourists want everything simultaneously—the impossible wish-list of the average vacationer. **"Oh, Those Pilgrims!"** jokes about New England ancestry. A daughter asks about "New England conscience"; the father—whose wife traces descent to the Mayflower and constantly reminds him—replies it's a conscience that "works only for others." This satirizes sanctimonious New England Puritanism and people who boast of Mayflower ancestry while being hypocritical. **"The Gasoline Magnate"** (bottom illustration) appears to mock wealthy automobile owners admiring a massive traffic jam, suggesting ironic satisfaction in the congestion their vehicles create. The overall theme: satirizing modern American desires, pretensions, and contradictions.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Vision-airy HEN aeronautics is complete, Perhaps ma'll say, “Now, wipe your feet; Come up from play. There, whining, And don’t track mud on my silver linis The Ideal Summer Resort (Qualifications Compiled from the Aver= age Vacationist’s Demands) cr must be located on a mountain-top within three hundred feet of a sea beach. It must be surrounded with historical tradition and al! modern conveniences. It must be far from civilization and within an hour's run of a good shopping district. There must be plenty of wild game and first-class trout and deep-sea fishing. It must not be a road house, yet able to furnish refreshment for the thirsty. It must be patronized only by ultra- fashionable classes and open to the very democratic, who make you feel at home the instant you arrive. The rates must be high enough to bar undesirables yet sufficiently moderate to enable you to save something from your vacation allowance. It must be a place of rest and quiet, we 2 with all the amusements of Coney Island. tae Cua i gf at It must be in the heart of the wild and Beh Syn rt AIM . sufficiently close to enable you to run to Ge ys) Las: town when business necessitates it. Pt” “ DID HE SAY HE REMEMBERED ME WHEN I WAS A GIRL Oh, Those Pilgrims! “ WELL—ER—NOT EXACTLY, MY DEAR, HE SAID HE REMEMBERED YOU WHEN HE AUGHTER: What is a New Eng- WAS A Boy.” land conscience? Farner (whose wife could trace her ‘H never learned to appreciate her HE probable reason why the labor descent back to the Mayflower, and did it good qualities until they quarreled.” unions do not approve of the law of often): One that works only for others, “ Evidently a case of love at first fight.” supply and demand is that it works. my dear, The Gasoline Magnate: WHAT A GLortous view!