Life, 1920-09-02 · page 33 of 52
Life — September 2, 1920 — page 33: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satirical illustration and accompanying text mock poorly-run summer resorts of the era. The chaotic cartoon depicts a resort in complete disarray—guests amid scattered belongings, a broken-down carriage, and general pandemonium. The "Notice" is a mock-serious list of absurd resort conditions presented as official policy: exorbitant laundry charges calculated by room number, dangerous collapsing beds, unreliable staff, meal schedules with 30-minute gaps between courses, faulty locks requiring trunks, decrepit rental boats, and unreliable steamship service. The satirical tone—presented deadpan as legitimate resort rules—exposes the actual negligence and overcharging guests endured at budget accommodations. The artist is Edmund J. Kiefer. This represents Life magazine's tradition of exposing consumer fraud and poor service through comic exaggeration, making fun of both incompetent resort operators and the desperation of vacationing Americans.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
BEETLFBURGH FALLS FROM GRACE (To Be Placed in the Guest Rooms of Summer Resorts) UESTS are advised to say their prayers. The management is not responsible for lost articles, mosquito bites, ceiling bruises, collapsible beds or heat prostration. Laundry rates are computed on a dollar basis by multiplying the number of pieces by the room number. To be sure of hav- ing needed clothing returned within two weeks, order for next morning. All work at owner’s peril. Unrecognizable articles not returned. Valet on duty after a day’s notice. Barber shop ready for business at all hours between ten-and eleven A. M. Ditto, shoe- shine chair. Meals as follows: Breakfast, about eight-thirty; lunch, around noon; dinner, in the evening. Individual courses at intervals of thirty minutes. Doors open at all times to lessen dangers attendant on women’s stampede. Mail ready at the office two hours after arrival, Electricity turned off at nine P.M, sharp, Guests are advised to spend two hours daily solving rope fire escape. Miniature receptacles found in some rooms under bureau are wastebaskets. Bureau drawers extricated at one dollar each. Guests desiring to lock their room doors securely should use trunks. Lopsided canoes and combination sieve-rowboats may be hired at dock for twenty dollars a week. Oars, chairs, pillows and paddles, five dollars extra. Rides in thirty-passenger ex- brewery truck, one dollar per head per mile. Truck leaves promptly one hour after schedule time. Find schedule poster somewhere on the grounds, Steamers Asthma and Meander dock every Sunday morning for churchgoers, arriving at churches of all denominations in time for last hymn. Return trips subject to change without notice, Edmund J. Kiefer. \WHATEVER your husband says about your cooking, re- member that you can hold his affection by making those eyes your mother used to make. comicbooks.com