Life, 1921-05-05 · page 28 of 46
Life — May 5, 1921 — page 28: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page from Life magazine contains short humorous observations and one central cartoon mocking American social trends circa 1920s. **The Main Cartoon** depicts a mother confronting a boy about his black eye. The boy defensively claims the other boy is "one of the squarest scrappers you could ever want to get licked by"—satirizing how Americans romanticize toughness and fighting, even when it results in injury. **Key Social Satire Themes:** - **Prohibition**: References to "corner saloons" closing and "Blue Laws" (religious regulations banning alcohol) - **Women's changing roles**: Mocking outdated domesticity ("old-fashioned American woman") - **Hypocrisy**: Critiquing church doctrine on damnation and moral policing by "Uplifters" (reform-minded busybodies) - **Class commentary**: Jabs at lawyers, diplomats, and social pretension The scattered aphorisms target American materialism, superficiality, and the gap between professed values and actual behavior—Life's standard satirical approach during the Jazz Age.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
HE corner saloon is gone, the corner cigar store is next. nothirig left to put on street corners. eee Soon there'll be How far a little scandal throws. its light! eee The Blue Law been repulsed. . . Grundy. Drive seems to have Sic transit gloria eee After all is said and undone, a woman retires for the night. oe There is one sort of servant that is difficult to get or keep in this country—the well-known Public Servant eee The mick inn Fein slogan: shall in- herit the Earth An impediment in the speech is worth two in the memory. eee Under the anti-tobacco regu! Bevo will have its counterpart in Cub that contain one-half ons, of one per cent nicotine. eee been certain theologians insisted that It hasn't so many ny un baptized person, young or old, Mr. H. G. Wells seems to think that, after all, one is bound to take seriously a universe which has produced Mr. H. G. Wells. eee knocks at the than brother Importunity door oftener Op. his eee Men can appreciate love letters, but it takes jurymen to appraise them. eee An ordinary man’s conscience tells him what he shouldn't do; but an Uplifter’s conscience tells him what his neighbors shouldn't do. eae A fair exchange is no robbery —but that depends on which s of the water you are on. eee Tell a woman the crime is on her head and she will want to know of it’s on straight. The promises of German dip- ge lomats may yet prove instructive to future students of the ro- “on! SCRAPPERS BOBBIE, WHAT A HORRID BOY HE YOU THAT BLACK EYE. MOTHER, HE'S ONE OF THE COULD EVER WANT TO GET HE AIN'T, you MUST BE TO GIVE SQUAKEST LICKED BY.” was damned for all etern But nowadays most of the churches and preachers are so ad that it takes consideral nuity to get into Hell. eee The Red, White and Blu stands for America- he propagandists, White Ribbon So- cicties and Blue Lawyers What has become of the old- fashioned American woman who covered her legs with her skirts and made chicken pic for dinner on Sunday? eee You'd Scientists that called had created the human race. think, to hear chatter, Biolog some a god actually What's the n hall First Vittacer: big meetin’ over to the to-night? Seconp Vittacer: Some of the boys wants ter change the name of Main Street to Easy honor of ‘ Street, in what done for the American novelist mance languages A civilization that starves its poets, and feeds its prize fighters on the fat of the land, is of doubtful utility. eee Life is a mirror in which each man sees himself. eee REVISION, The world is so full of a mumber of verses, I'm sure we should all be as happy as hearses. According to the police, too many crooks spoil the graft. eee An old motto made New “God bless Our Home Brew!" eee Some people sell themselves to the devil, others rent themselves out by the day. eee You never realize how many parts an auto has until it hits a telegraph pole. Hughes to Frame New Foreig —Headline, . But first why not frame the old one? eee ON THE GREEN. “You can’t get by me,” Said the stymie, Speaking loud and clear; The words the putter Then did utter Can't be printed here. eee The millennium has been indefinitely adjourned. comicbooks.com 01 cr st fc if