Life, 1921-10-20 · page 4 of 34
Life — October 20, 1921 — page 4: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satirical piece titled "And Did He Get It?" mocks psychoanalysis through "Uncle Sam Psycho-Analyzes Himself." The cartoon shows Uncle Sam (the personified United States) speaking with a child about a mustard plaster placed "upstairs"—a crude analogy for America's internal problems. The satire criticizes America's obsession with psychoanalysis as a cure-all. Uncle Sam's stream-of-consciousness listing—"Prohibition...Socialism...cocktails...housing shortage...union labor...high balls...taxes...woman suffrage...Mary Pickford...heart of the world...eighteenth amendment...disarmament...Babe Ruth...bootlegging...Ku Klux Klan"—mocks the era's social anxieties and contradictions (note the simultaneous mention of Prohibition and cocktails, bootlegging). The joke suggests that merely identifying America's problems through analysis won't solve them. The "thinking room" reference in the text reinforces this critique of 1920s therapeutic trends.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Virginia: T’ve been sick. My mother put a mustard plaster on me. “And where did mother put the plaster, dear?” “Upstairs.” And Did He Get It? Uncle Sam Psycho-Analyzes Himself NCLE SAM was worried about his condi- tion. He knew something about psycho- analysis, so he determined to try it on himself. Seating himself at his desk, for twenty minutes he made his mind a blank, noting down on a piece of paper the random thoughts that rose into consciousness. This was the result: “Business depression ... prohibition... League of Nations . . . Socialism . . . cocktails . . unemployment... free verse .. . profiteer- ing... housing shortage ... union labor .. , high balls ... taxes... woman suffrage... stagnation... Mary Pick- ford... heart of the world... eighteenth amendment . . . disarmament . . . savings campaign . . . self-determination ... Babe Ruth... vision... world series... Sinn Fein . .. bootlegging .. . Davis cup .. . Main Street . . . Jack Dempsey .,. Ku Klux Klan ,, . hold-ups . . . home brew.” Rew Pensively, Uncle Sam contemplated what he had written. “I’m a sick man!” he murmured weakly, and he passed his hand across his brow. “There seems absolutely no con- nection to my thoughts.” But suddenly a look of hope came into his eyes. “Perhaps it’s not so bad as I thought. Let me see!” and he counted eagerly: “One... two. . . three ++. four... five... six.” The same idea, he saw, occurred six times, though in somewhat different form: “prohibition . . . cocktails ... high balls... eighteenth amendment . . . bootlegging... home brew.” He drew a deep breath, “What I need,” he sighed, “is a good drink !” William Wallace Whitelock. Tue New York hotel which has installed a “thinking room” is evidently catering to guests from out of town. nations that ha the o wants t ment a big f for cai thing ¢ “The whole this he ference “Wel idea tl begin a bein have a dence t to disa these 1 ists we armam. the Ita throug] armam Blintz, more h Disarm them would ; Disarm come t Tange coming could | disarm Dublin, have a ence Ww couple erick the d would ; in Was of nast asked.‘ comicbooks.com