Life, 1921-03-10 · page 25 of 36
Life — March 10, 1921 — page 25: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**Main Article ("Has Mr. Harding a Dog?"):** President Warren G. Harding is the subject. The piece humorously proposes that the White House should have a dog, arguing it would be beneficial and well-cared-for due to the president's prominence and neighbors' interest in returning it. The satire appears gentle—musing on the practical advantages of presidential pet ownership rather than attacking Harding directly. **"Exhausted Publicity" Cartoon:** A press agent named Nye tells an actor client that he's exhausted all publicity angles except death—darkly satirizing how Hollywood generates press coverage through sensational stunts. **"The Pup" Comic Strip:** Shows a small dog challenging a rooster, claiming to be a "bird dog," but admits it's "just a coon dog"—a self-deprecating joke about the dog's actual (inferior) hunting abilities versus its pretensions. The page combines gentle presidential humor with sharper show-business satire, typical of *Life* magazine's mix of political and entertainment commentary from the 1920s.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
March 10 Has Mr. Harding a Dog? GENTLEMAN from Kansas was re- Avon apprehended for sending cig- arettes to President Harding—an unusual ft and provocative, possibly, of some- thing more unusual than the character of the gift. At Thanksgiving and Christmas time it is customary to send the President turkeys, and many other articles of various degrees have in our history been for- garded to Washington. But has anybody ever sent the President a dog? During several intermittent visits we have paid to our Presidents in the past, we do not remember ever secing a White House dog. Probably if there has been such an adjunct, he has been kept discreetly in the rear and used only upon acute occasions to ward off certain Sen- ators and Congressmen. That there ought to be a White House dog goes without saying. But what kind of dog? There is plenty of room for a fairly large and active specimen to romp about the White House grounds, and if he were of a roving disposition, he would soon tecome so well known that the neighbors would take a personal interest in getting him back home. We have had several dogs of this kind, and the time we have spent in locating them at nightfall, with the children half distracted, would--if we had been as im- portant as a President—undoubtedly have detracted from the measure of our service to the country at large. It must be a great thing, however, to be President, just for the fun of having a dog that would always be brought back and thot everybody would come to know so well that he would be in no danger. Mr. Harding, when he made the rounds at night and discovered that Nibs was not there, have concern. He would no AMET MONTDMERY FACS EXHAUSTED PUBLICITY Said a tired press agent named Nye To his actorine client “ Goo'bye, You've cut all the capers They’ll use in the papers— I could get you a page if you'd die!” could be sure that some little girl would be ringing the bell in a few moments with his barkship in tow, saying: “Please, mister, I found him running around the ‘monument, and knowing he was yours, I brought him home.” And Mr. Harding would take her in and give her a lollypop kept for just such pur- poses, and show her the sofa where the dog sleeps, and the little girl would pat him and say, “He is such a nice doggie, isn't he?” And Mr. Harding would say: “Yes, Isn't he?” T.LM. “VYJHAT would you do to a man who proposed over the telephone?” “Reject him on a postcard.” wd . The Pup: 1'LL SHOW THIS ROOSTER WHAT A COOD BIRD DOG I AM. “ WELL, I GUESS, AFTER ALL, I'M JUST A COON Doc,” comicbooks.com