Life, 1920-09-23 · page 37 of 40
Life — September 23, 1920 — page 37: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two distinct pieces: **Top cartoon** by Burton Kline satirizes telephone intrusion. A nervous airplane passenger asks why the driver is laughing; the driver replies he's amused the superintendent will be searching for him in "the lunatic asylum"—suggesting the superintendent will go mad looking for the missing driver. The accompanying text mocks the telephone as an inescapable "hooligan" that interrupts even important business meetings and dinner, ruling people's lives without mercy or respect for hierarchy. Even powerful figures like "J. Pompus Magnayt" cannot escape its tyranny. The joke's point: the telephone is a democratizing nuisance that enslaves everyone equally. **Bottom section** is primarily a Rubberset Brushes advertisement disguised as editorial content. It includes a testimonial letter from a National Military Home (dated February 13, 1920) praising the durability of Rubberset brushes, framed as an unsolicited endorsement. The ad emphasizes the brushes' "everlasting" hard rubber grip—a sales pitch presented as authentic customer praise rather than obvious advertising.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
th nnot s of been may ABOUT $000 FEET UP— Nervous Passenger (in aerial taxi): w-w- WHAT ARE YOU L-L-LAUGHING AT, DRIVER? Driver: 'M JUST LAUGHING AT THE SUPER- ISTENDENT. ABOUT THIS TIME ME'LL BE SEARCHING FOR ME ALL OVER THE LUNATIC syuuM be— You get up amu . phone. Instrument of barbarism, that’s the tele- phone. In the middle of your dinner it will call you away. At the breathless close of the book, when she is laying her lly-white hand in his, and “ Dearest!” he is saying, the telephone rings. You dare not ignore it. Wherever you are, it has you. Your one solace, your one sweet re- venge, is that you are not the only slave w this fiend. In the homes—in the offices of the mighty it is the same. Great J. Pompus Magnayt may be sitting with his directors over a little matter that would keep Mr. Hearst in news for a week. In the very middle of things the telephone siggles. Not all his secretaries can save J. Pompus from the untimely intruder. No eight-hour day for the telephone. No holidays; no Sundays, even, It keeps 0 office hours; it has no manners. In all the proud march of civilization, the tele- Phone remains the hooligan. Weary, peeved and petulant, you have @Mswered the fortieth ring. And you Were privileged to hang up at once, with sgh of relief or shout of joy. For once you didn't have to listen. It was the Wrong number. Burton Kline. - Sergeant you were more than welcome to the hun- dred dollars’ worth of brush for a dollar and a quarter, but we won’t take that bet. We know you RUBBERSET boosters too well! * ome Number 19 of a series of advertise- ments NOT WRITTEN BY OUR AD MAN. NOTE—It’s that everlasting grip of hard vulcan- ized rubber— original in RUBBERSET brushes— that builds these everlasting friendships— ,, also original with RUBBERSETS! RUBBERSET LATHER TRADE MARK HAIR BRI JISHES VARNISH TOOTH STUCCO every bristle gripped EVERLASTINGLY in hard rubber! comicbooks.com