Life, 1920-09-23 · page 36 of 40
Life — September 23, 1920 — page 36: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satirical essay celebrates the unexpected blessing of receiving wrong-number telephone calls—a social commentary on early 20th-century telephone culture. **The Point**: While most people curse wrong numbers, the author argues they're actually fortunate escapes. Unwanted callers reach you constantly now that your name appears in the phone directory. A wrong number provides blessed relief from social obligations—you can ignore it guilt-free, unlike legitimate calls demanding your attention. **The Social Context**: The piece reflects anxiety about the telephone as a new technology that invaded domestic privacy. By having a listed phone number, you became obligated to answer calls from family, friends, and acquaintances. The essay's tongue-in-cheek tone mocks how people view the telephone as a mark of social status, while revealing its exhausting social demands. The cartoon (left) shows a man clinging to a woman, captioned "A Man Who Is Glad His Wife Is a Clinging Vine"—likely satirizing dependent relationships, though the exact connection to the text remains unclear.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
556 LIFE A MAN WHO IS GLAD HIS WIFE IS A CLING- ING VINE PLAY T THE SCALE INONE EVENING rt e ‘for coor THE FAMOUS Buescher-Gr The plarioge cain perma d Corn {epaaod the, meat perfect bent Giyacdigcc seer ree Tria! Gdaye —— jand instrument Co. ELKHART, 475 Bucesher Biceh BOGAL Woh “The New South's Young City of Des “New one on me.” Well, it has 15,000 people. ago its site was a pine forest years Mayor knows why. ite Oe oe 64a looted Kis - now The Wrong Number HE vast variety and volume of pro- fanity lavished on the telephone makes the judicious grieve—at such a wicked waste of energy. By now the wrong number has swelled the stock jokes of the world from seven to eight. In reality the wrong number is no joke at all. It's a far greater blessing. It is only the hopeless egoists who do the telephoning, that cuss out the wrong number. The rest of us lucky devils know what we owe to it. We know times we escape having to how many listen at the other end. In all the schoolbooks the telephone gets a hearty send-off as an instrument of civilization. This happy illusion of child- hood is the first to go, as maturity and the true meaning of life and the telephone burst upon us. The family fortunes, let us say, have risen. Your name in the book —it looked so extremely well. You were there. You were a person with a tele- phone. How deftly mother, bidding her half-hour good-by to her caller while the potatoes burned, brought in the fact that you had a telephone! “Call me up, any time,” proudly. “ Wait. I'll give you our num- ber.” if she had to hunt for it! You called up everybody knew You tried long distance, and plain as day. Central gave you the wrong number for the first time, and you cussed, and laughed, and felt like the people in the jokes. You were at one with man- kind. Then, showed itself for what it was. It is early morning, and maybe have heen out the night before. Or may- Le it is the night before, and it has been she said so an. you heard as one day, the hooligan thing you some party, and you have just got nicely capsuled in the blankets at The neighbors have turned off the last record. The soothing syrup has taken effect on the baby across the way. The man in the iast. Tks Kish tonto pepng Qa man ho a week LD deah “Sountain Fen pen en the nh 50 Can ee | corner has put lis car away—you saw his “brights” sweep the wall above your bed, as they always do, That is over. All is peace. The telephone rings. It has been waiting for that moment. You rebel. You swear. Answer that thing? Never!. Ah, but escape, though. Suppose Uncle Jerry, worth a million you cai it is news of He's bee in poor health for some time. Or it Nerz wuar Driv e INTEND Avoid False | svUUs e eeth Discomfort |. phone. Your false teeth troubles may be caused by | Instr | a condition your dentist can correct—consult | phone. him. Until you visit your dentist get relief by wsiag | yi) ¢. Dr. Wernet’s Powder. Keeps dental plates | 2 from dropping and permits you to eat, laugh, | “°¢ © and talk with ease. Mildiy antiseptic and } lily-wh Sweetens the breath. At drug or dept. stores. } he is 30c, 60c and $1.00 | dare n Wernet Dental Mig. Co. J has yo 114 Beekman Street, New Your York City. WERNETS 4 POWDER, EUROPE 192 Partiey enrolling now. Moderate prices Most interesting routes, Great succe TEMPLE TOURS PISO’ ¢ for Coughs & Colds Siggles J. Pom No « No hol Ro offic the pro Phone Wear answer, were p sgn of jyou di Wrong comicboo! 0H" |