Life, 1920-12-23 · page 6 of 44
Life — December 23, 1920 — page 6: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains a satirical cartoon by William L. Caffrey depicting a social scene at what appears to be an art gallery or exhibition. The caption shows a "well-intentioned Flapper" complimenting a male artist, saying his picture is "just grand" while admitting she has "a crick in my neck looking at it." The joke satirizes 1920s "Flapper" culture—young women adopting modern, sometimes superficial attitudes. Here, the woman is praising artwork she physically cannot properly view, suggesting she's being polite rather than genuinely appreciating art. This reflects contemporary satire about Flappers as fashionable but not intellectually engaged. The accompanying essay, "Meditations on Christmas," discusses kindness and generosity during the holiday season, advocating for authentic rather than performative charity—thematically aligned with the cartoon's critique of empty compliments.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
YOUR PICTURE IS JUST GRAND! HE central idea of Christmas is that we should all be kind to somebody, particularly to those who are not likely to be kind to us in return. Therefore I propose that this Christ- mas be devoted to considering the heavenly merits of that much- abused and detracted person, the landlord. Consider how much we owe him! Quite probably we owe him more than we do anyone else. eee Perhaps too much has been said about being kind to others at Christmas; for secretly, as everyone admits, Christmas is the time when we want other people to be kind to us. Of course sometimes people are kind to us inadvertently and against their will, as when (it fortuitously happens) the previous man’s nickel drops out of the little slippery chute at the bottom of the phone-box, and we use it, thankfully, for our own call. We count that as gain, but we know it is only a gentle hazard. What we yearn for is the phone company—or anyone clse—being gloriously kind to us of their own accord. It is right (isn’t it?) that those who appreciate kindnesses should receive them? Very well. We look round about, and we don’t see anyone who gets really more delight out of being handsomely treated than Well-intentioned Flapper (to artist whose picture has been skied): OM, MR. KROME, | THINK I'VE GOT A CRICK IN MY NECK LOOKING AT IT Meditations on Christmas We feel (oh, how distinctly we fecl!) in ourself a vast and magniticent capacity for enjoying and welcoming and appre ng the generous actions of others. It is the obvious duty of our friends to keep this great quality of our nature busy, unimpaired and untarnished by disuse. eee ourselves, This is not selfishness. Oh, please do not misunderstand us! You know that there really are people who get more pleasure in giving than in receiving. There really are, because we are told so continually. That is the fundamental doctrine of Christmas. The only point is (now, we can’t help our nature, can we?) that we are not one of those people. We thought we ought to let you know before it is too late. (There are still one or two shopping days before the 25th.) What really would be selfish would be for us to stand in the of those who feel fine altruistic impulses. A good plan (we have often found it so) is to do our own shopping very early, and send off our presents to our friends about the first of December. In each package we insert (as though it had got in by accident, in the tumult of wrapping and comicbooks.