Life, 1921-09-15 · page 23 of 34
Life — September 15, 1921 — page 23: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satirical piece mocks the American custom of overwhelming visiting dignitaries with excessive hospitality. Sir Peter Winterbotham, a fictional "world-famous explorer," recounts increasingly dramatic near-death experiences—polar bear attacks, assegai spears, tiger combat, volcanic eruptions—each introduced as his worst ordeal. The punchline: his three-week American visit, featuring 149 banquets, 66 city keys, handshakes with 871,189 people, and 313 welcome speeches, finally "broke [his] spirit." The cartoon satirizes American civic boosterism and social convention, suggesting that endless formal receptions and ceremonial obligations are more exhausting than genuine physical danger. It's a gentle critique of American enthusiasm and the burdensome expectations placed on honored guests.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
September 15 An Interview with a Recent Visitor to Our Shores On the occasion of his seventieth birthday we asked Sir Peter Winterbotham, the world-famous explorer, describe the most harrowing experience of his ad- venturous life, “My experience in 1881 in the icy waters of Spits- bergen. The sudden parting of an ice-floe force to swim for eight days and eight nights in order to regain land, and for the better part of the time I was in extreme peril from hunger-mad polar bears. But I minded that less than— “My capture by the unfriendly M’Jeewees of Portu- guese Africa, who bound me tightly to a nearby tree and used me as a target for assegai practice. At the time I thought that must necessarily be my most dreadful experience. But last year I was officially invited to visit America— “In my youth,” said the explorer, “I had a thrilling encounter with two Bengal tigers which I fought off with my bare hands for two days and six hours. But that was not so bad as— “The eruption in Taipons of Mt. Winterbotham, which I had discovered and named. To escape the falling rocks and lava I had to run 48 miles, main- taining an average speed of 4 m. 12 seconds a mile. Yet that was not so exhausting as— “Where in the course of my three weeks’ stay I was made to attend 149 banquets and receptions, received the key of 66 cities, shook the hand of 871,189 persons and listened during $04 hours to 313 speeches of welcome. That, Sir, is the experience that broke my spirit.” comicbooks.com