Life, 1920-12-23 · page 34 of 44
Life — December 23, 1920 — page 34: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three satirical pieces from Life magazine (appears to be post-WWI era, referencing President Harding's Cabinet selection). **"Eh, What?"** mocks the idea of exchanging novelists between America and England. The author sarcastically proposes swapping American writers (Dreiser, Tarkington, Wharton) with English ones (Walpole, Marshall) to revitalize "old" English fiction. The satire targets both nations' literary insularity and suggests Americans should write the great 20th-century English novel—a jab at perceived American cultural inferiority. **"Easy"** ridicules political commentary about Harding's Cabinet choices, listing competing interest groups (Senatorial oligarchs, Prohibitionists, labor advocates, etc.) as if they're simple "elements" to balance—mocking the naive assumption these factions will selflessly compromise. **"Playing Safe"** uses horse-racing metaphors to satirize cautious betting, comparing it to vegetable names. The final "Tact" cartoon shows an orator promoting patriotism while a voice interrupts: "Teach him to strike for higher wages"—satirizing the contradiction between nationalist rhetoric and labor radicalism post-war.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“LIFE. sla a A YOUNG GENTL N OF THE OLD SCHOOL Eh, What? VE got it! Lire has discovered a method whereby Anglo- Saxon fiction can be saved from the demnition how-wows. Let's have an exchange of novelists. The trouble with the English fiction-writers is that they're always writing English Our American novelists confine themselves wholly to American topics. Let's swap novelists with dear old England. Let Walpole, Marshall and others come over here with their pads and pencils, and we'll send over to England Dreiser, Tarkington, ith Wharton and their like, if there are such. We'll thus get some new wine into old bottles that'll tickle our innards. Of course, that ante-war transatlantic exchange of stories. professors wasn't a great success. Mal-assimilation of forcig: erudition played the dickens with some of our American high- lrows. But an exchange of novelists between two English- speaking peoples is not the same as swapping a Yankce sage for a Herr Professor. What we're endeavoring to suggest i- that the great English novel of the twentieth century should Lc written by an American, and the great American novel by Englishman, Easy HEE editorial writers and cartoonists are making too much of Mr. Harding’s task. The selection of the Cabinet will he less difficult than it seems to them. The trouble is they have not analyzed the problem. Ajter all, he has only to recognize a few well-defined elements; and if he finds this impossible because of the limited number of berths, any of them can be depended upon to sink their own interests for the sake of the general welfare. The chief among these interests are the Senatorial-Oligarchic, Reservationist (three degrees), Detlationist, Expansionist, I hibitionist, Aleoholi Sinn Fein, Americs Mexico-Recognitionist, Vested-Interestial, Federationist, Agriculturist, Industrialist, Automobilist, Suffragist and Anti-suffragist.. And, of course, the Public Playing Safe ID you go to the races yesterday? 1 played Falldown, Fadeaway and Nogood.” . I took my money to market and played Cabbage, Ruta- haga, and that sterling old favorite Spareribs, and I lost money at that.” RATOR: My f tion we must instill into the heart of every immigrant nds, what is the first pa inspira- when he lands in our glorious country Voice: Teach him to strike for higher wages. comicbooks.com