Life, 1920-11-04 · page 20 of 60
Life — November 4, 1920 — page 20: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three satirical pieces: 1. **"Direct from Russia"**: Mocks a Russian violinist named "Mischa Violin" by proposing everyone adopt occupational surnames (George W. Newspaper, John D. Oil, etc.). The humor lies in the absurdity of this naming convention and the exaggerated hyphenated names for people with chaotic careers. 2. **"Record Breaking"**: A brief jab at New York City's inefficiency—despite massive municipal income, the city supposedly takes three months to clear a single snowfall, suggesting incompetent administration. 3. **Church/Golf Cartoon**: Satirizes upper-class hypocrisy. Mrs. Bunker claims she and her husband abandoned church attendance because thinking about golf during services would be "sacrilegious"—a tongue-in-cheek excuse masking that golf has become their actual religion, more important than Christianity. All three pieces target pretension, materialism, and the gap between stated values and actual behavior in American society.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Direct from Russia HE newest Russian fiddler calls him- self Mischa Violin. The name sug- gests all kinds of possibilities. Why not, grabbing a leaf from Mr. Violin, know all men by their callings? To wit: George W. Newspaper. Gregory C. Insurance, J. Harold Broker. John D. Oil. James J. Playwright. And then, of course, you would occa- sionally come across a man whom a hard Fate had driven from one line into an- other, and who would be proportionately hyphenated. For instance : William E. Fur- niture-Chocolate Caramels-Tar Roofing- Export-Book Agent. Record Breaking N'’ YORK city will have a net in- come of $347,203.877 this year, so presumably it will be able to clear away the first light snowfall in about three months. T! shortage in living-room continues. iven President Wilson no longer has a House on his hands, Little Scout Sister: p—1—c! OAGn tae “HOW IS IT THAT I NEVER SEE YOU AND YOUR HUSBAND IN CHURCH, MRS. BUNKER?" “WELL, YOU SEF, DOCTOR, WE FELT IT WAS SACRILEGIOUS To SIT IN CHURCH AND THINK ABOUT GOLF, SO WE GAVE UP CHURCH.” comicbooks.co im