Life, 1921-05-12 · page 28 of 36
Life — May 12, 1921 — page 28: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page is primarily **advertising** with a sidebar of humorous short pieces. The main advertisements feature **Cammeyer shoes** (a French sport model) and **Allen's Foot-Ease powder**, a foot remedy marketed with a WWI reference (noting over 1.5 million pounds were used by the Army and Navy during the war). The right column, titled "Our Foolish Contemporaries," contains brief satirical pieces mocking common social annoyances: - People who forget or mangle jokes in the telling - A reformed "wastrel" (Bliggins) who joins the church and becomes respectable, only to regret missing his wild youth before converting - Humor about Prohibition's ineffectiveness - A racial stereotype about a Black porter looking up dictionary words The satire targets everyday social types and behaviors—poor storytellers, hypocrites, and the gap between stated morality and actual desire. The tone is mild, drawing-room humor typical of 1920s Life magazine.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
New York's Most Beautiful Shoe Shop FRENCH SPORT MODEL ADE in Patent Leather with three straps. Gold buckles in centre of straps. Military heel. and straps. Perforated tip, back, top This distinctive model is representative of the original styles at this unique shoe Salon. CAMMEXER. 677-~Fifth Avenue Between S3rd and 5#th Streets Shake It Into Your Shoes ALLEN’S FOOT=EASE The Antiseptic, Healing Powder for the Feet ‘Takes the friction from the shoe, relieves the pain of corns, bun- ions, callouses & sore spots, freshens the feet and gives new vigor. Makes Tight or New Shoes Feel Easy At night, when your feet are tired, sore and swollen from walking or dancing, sprinkle Allen's Foot-Ease in the foot-bath and enjoy the bliss of feet without an ache. Over One Million five hundred thousand pounds of Powder for the Feet were used by our Army and Navy during the war. Ask for ALLEN’S FOOT-EASE Sprinkle It Into Your Foot-Bath OUR FOOLISH CONTEMPORARIES a nrc You Know Them The man who gets to the middle of what promised to be a good joke and breaks off with, “Gosh, I've forgotten how it goes. It was a good one, though. Ha, ha!” The man who tells you a joke that you told him yesterday. The man who tells a joke—and then ex- plains it. The man who becomes so amused over the telling of his own joke that he hasn't breath enough to finish it. The joker who starts off with, “ Did you ever hear the joke about the man who wore a hat—or had two legs—or who wore stringy in his shoes,” etc., as if the listener cov identify it by any such meager deseri The wag who begins, “Well, I heard a pretty good one yesterday It's not snappy, but it's worth telling any- how.” —Nashville Tennessean, apologetic Too Late Bliggins for some years had gone the pace that kills, only it didn’t kill him but merely reformed him. Then he joined the church and rose so high in its councils that he was sent to one of the big cities as delegate to a convention. “How was it?" asked a friend when he returned, The convention? Oh, all right, swered Bliggins. “But that town! Sor town! If I'd only been a delegate to some thing there before I got converted !" merican Legion Weekly Sull There “It is indeed a pleasure,” remarked th man who approves of prohibition, “ able to walk the streets without seeing oon on every corner.” And yet,” returned the unr one, “ it's a great comfort to know the there; even if you'don't see” them.” —New York S A Colored Linguist Empiover (coming upon colored porter looking through the dictionary) What you doing, Sam looking up some more words for another speech ? “No, sah. ‘Tain’t that. Ah's jes’ trans latin’ the speech ah made las’ night.” —Boston Transcript. How Time Flies “ Dearest, I love you. Since the dawn of creation, since the birth of this world, since the beginning of time I have known loved you. Darling, will you be mine? “Oh, Tom, this is so sudden!” —Dartmouth Jack-o-Lantern. Crime Hath Its Victims A Pennsylvania man got three years in prison for a holdup in which he got only sixty cents from his victim. At twenty cen!s a year, crime can hardly be said to pay. —Cleveland Plain Dealer. comicbooks.com