Life, 1921-09-22 · page 5 of 34
Life — September 22, 1921 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The cartoon depicts an artist painting outdoors while a man in military uniform watches. The dialogue reveals the satire: when asked if he's selling the pictures, the artist claims he's "only doing them for Art's sake," yet the officer skeptically asks "Well, does he sell them?" This mocks artists who claim pure artistic motivation while actually profiting from their work—a common hypocrisy. The military setting may suggest wartime, when such contradictions became more visible or contentious. Below, "Ever Hear Anybody Say This?" collects absurd boasts and excuses people make about money, cars, and personal habits—satirizing common American self-deception and materialism of the era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
September 22 Native: D’ye sell them pictures? Artist: No; I’m only doing them for Art’s sake. “Well, does he sell them?” his safe deposit box and try to forget all about them, It is also quite unnecessary for an investor in Securities That Are Perfectly All Right to look them up in the quotation list of the Wall Street page of the afternoon paper. If these securities go flooey, he will hear about it almost as soon as the receiver is appointed. This brings us to the next lower type of securities, which is called Good Investments. It is hardly necessary to enter into a discussion of this type of security, except to say that one should put money into securities known as Good Invest- ments only with the utmost caution. In fact, if one does not feel like investing in Widows’ Securities or Securities That Are Perfectly All Right, it is a great deal better not to have anything to do with so highly speculative a proposi- tion as Good Investments. In short, Good Investments are usually rotten. You now know as much as I do about in- vestment securities, and, I am bound to admit, it isn’t much. Competition “Are you trying to make a fool of me?” he cried. “I never interfere with nature,” replied the girl with the painted cheeks and pencilled eyebrows. Ever Hear Anybody Say This? “VT WAS to blame entirely, officer. I was driving thirty- five miles an hour and that car couldn't possibly have avoided me.” “That fellow can make more money in a week than I can in a year.” “I thoroughly enjoy eating at restaurants—never tire of the food, and eat three meals a day in ‘em regularly.” “My car isn’t worth nine hundred dollars but I'd like to have you buy it at that figure because otherwise I won't be able to finance my wife’s trip to the seashore.” “My children are all slow to learn and uncommonly dull. All of them take after me.” “I was a regular sissy when I was a boy—never did any- thing my parents objected to, and loved school better than anything else.” , “Both of my grandfathers were drunkards and several of my ancestors died in jail.” “T have plenty of time to study but I prefer to waste it having a goad time.” “Come right in. I carry insurance but I'd like to take out a policy with your company to help it get a start.” comicbooks.com