Life, 1921-12-22 · page 28 of 34
Life — December 22, 1921 — page 28: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two pieces of WWI-era satirical humor from *Life* magazine: **"Will Disarmament Result in This?"** presents absurdist "General Orders" for a mock military attack using food and playground pranks instead of weapons—"Wrist Slappers," "Cup Custard Hurlers," "Nose Tweakers," "Hay Fever germs," and "shadow boxers." The satire mocks pacifist arguments about disarmament by imagining a ridiculous scenario where armies fight harmlessly. The "Remarks" section adds period comedy: warnings against showgirls and vaudeville jokes, and rations of ice cream cones. **"A Christmas Eve Episode"** shows the capture of "Santa Claus, alias Slippery Sam, bootlegger"—a Prohibition-era joke conflating the jolly gift-giver with illegal alcohol smuggling. The cartoon likely satirizes how Prohibition enforcement portrayed criminals romantically or how civilians viewed "bootleggers." Both pieces use humor to comment on contemporary debates: military preparedness/pacifism and Prohibition enforcement.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
(d) Two Companies of Red Pepper Throwers. (e) One Platoon of Cologne ang Florida Water Sprayers, (£) Companies A, B, C and D of the 325th Division of Rough and Merciless Ear Boxers, (g) The President’s Own Imperial Hair Mussers. 4.—Airplane scouts will fly over the enemy, dropping hay fever germs in great profusion. 5——The 77th Brigade of Cheek Pinchers will hold itself in readiness for any emergency. 6—Should the enemy, instead of being taken by surprise, put up a stem resistance, the 256th Regiment of Rope Skippers will advance to Hill 75 and indulge in fancy rope skipping to dis- tract attention from the main move. ment. 7-—Mopping up will be done by six regiments of shadow boxers. Remarks: The foe will no doubt resort to their well-known method of sending out many platoons of charming showgirls to flirt with the expeditionary forces and retard the advance. The addresse of the young ladies may be tak under no circumstances shall a com- batant stop to chat. Company commanders will caution their men against atrocities. ‘The foe have been guilty of atrocities right along, resorting particularly to the prac- tice of compelling prisoners to listen to current vaudeville jokes and jazz songs. but our men must not retaliate in kind. Rations: All combatants shall carry handbags with two days’ supply of ice cream “Ker-chew!” cones and malted milk. “1 1h ‘ Signed) General O. B. Gentle, Will Dismopaess Result in (Signed), “Genera Cominaiiding: This? H. I. Phillips ENERAL ORDERS NO. 6787 :— The attack will take place in the G sector to-morrow morning at 5:10 im accordance with the following in- structions : 1.—The artillery will shell out the foe in advanced positions with home-made biscuits. 2.—A heavy barrage of wheat cakes and codfish balls wiil start at 5:05. 3.—The infantry will then go over the top in the following formation: (a) 235th Brigade of Wrist Slappers. = L_ (b) 23rd Regiment of Cup Custard Hurlers. “ee (c) 47th Regiment of Nose Tweak- A Christmas Eve Episode ers. The capture of Santa Claus, alias Slippery Sam, bootlegger comicbooks.com