Life, 1921-06-09 · page 7 of 38
Life — June 9, 1921 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The top cartoon depicts a policeman confronting a menagerie owner beside a cage containing what appears to be a laughing hyena. The caption reads: "Policeman (to menagerie owner): Yiz'll have to get rid o' that laughin' hyena, if yez can't make him stop laughin' on Sunday." **The joke**: This satirizes blue laws—religious regulations prohibiting activities on Sundays. The absurdist humor comes from applying these restrictions to an animal's involuntary behavior. The policeman represents overzealous enforcement of puritanical Sunday laws, while the hyena's uncontrollable laughter mocks the impossibility of compliance. The cartoon criticizes such laws as unreasonable intrusions on personal freedom, even extending to the ridiculous notion of policing an animal's natural conduct.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
June 9 Policeman (to menayerie owner): Beauty Hints IND your own business. Always agree with a large man. Wait until the car stops. Never get married. His Metier “] DON'T sce how Billings- gute can make a living. He has no sense of humor and is intensely vulgar.” “Yes, he had a hard time of it until he got a job asa film censor.” Ne Plus Ultra Fs { MERCHANT: \nybody opened your safe yet? Stcoxp Mercuant: No; the door is patterned after a car window. Asuce SSFUL cemetery —One in which the hatchet will stay buried. INTOLERABLE OBVIOUS “WHERE ARE YOU GOING, MY PRETTY MAID?" “YM GOING A-SKATING, SIR,” SUE SAID, see Sat ~N YEZ’LL HAVE TO GET RID 0” THAT LAUGHIN’ HYENA, IF YEZ CAN'T MAKE HIM STOP LAUGHIN’ ON SUNDAY. Still Smiling BOY in Kansas City was recently awarded $20,- ooo because an electric wire had deprived him of his smile. The wire had caught him as he climbed a tree and de- stroyed the facial muscles that produce the smile. He could still fecl a smile, but could not express it to others. Twenty thousand dol- lars is very little to receive for such a handicap. Man is the only animal who knows how to smile, And in spite of moving-picture come- dies and musical shows and industrial depressions, he con- tinues to exercise this ex- clusive privilege. Ms"? (answering bell): The doctor is out. Is it an urgent case? Patient: Very. I want my prescription renewed. comicbooks.com