Life, 1921-12-29 · page 23 of 35
Life — December 29, 1921 — page 23: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page lampoons 1922 American life through multiple satirical pieces: **"Review of the Year"** poem catalogs the era's chaos: Prohibition ("bootlegging, boozing"), labor unrest, jazz culture, sexual liberation ("bobbed-haired and short-skirted janes"), and financial uncertainty. It's a cynical summary treating serious social upheaval with comedic detachment. **"Horsey"** joke plays on "pedigree"—a student defines it as "a horse's character," a crude double-meaning. **The romantic sketch** satirizes foreign immigrants; a Swedish man attempts seduction but the woman dismisses Swedes, recalling only one phrase: "Ay ban goin' to leave"—ethnic stereotype humor about departing immigrants. **"We Have With Us: 1922"** offers pessimistic commentary: business recovery seems unlikely despite optimistic claims; civilization is dying but refuses to stay dead because too many profit from its decline. References to H.G. Wells updating the Bible and new South Sea discoveries add satirical absurdity. The marriage joke at bottom continues the cynicism: only 1-in-10 marriages succeed, but the woman's previous nine were "flivvers" (failures)—slang term also meaning cheap cars.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Review of the Year OMICIDE, larceny, graft, Marriages, births, and divorces, Poets and bankers gone daft, Quack cures and memory courses, Congress in stormy debates, Labor and Capital clinching, Jazzing in forty-eight states, Bootlegging, boozing, and lynching, Business deals, losses and gains, Cries of “You robber!” and “Faker !” Bobl.ed-haired and short-skirted janes, 3ils from the butcher and baker; re of sadness and cheer, ving and laughing and sinning. t of the coming New Year? Repeat this from end to beginning. Max Lief. Horsey ACHER (to class): Who can tell he meaning of pedigree? ounny: I can! \CHER: Go ahead. etteaes unny: A horse’s character. Eo He: Oh, Madame! If I could only tell you in my native Swedish how beauti- fully you dance. She: Don’t tell me. The only Shea I ever heard was, “Ay ban goin’ to leave. We Have With Us: 1922 ‘HE New Year begins to open up with a new joy. In spite of all the favorable things Mr. Schwab has been saying about business, there isn’t any doubt that it will soon begin to pick up and that the heads of all corporations will be wearing once again non-union suits of real cotton under- wear. Mr. H. G. Wells is also at work on his Bible, and it is hoped that when it is installed in place of the old one we have been running on so long, we shall begin to see daylight once more. Several new South Sea Islands have been lo- cated and the short skirt has been lowered about two feet. But best news of all, in the world of humor several new jokes have been discovered and are promised for the early spring. The question is, What shall be done with them when they have been duly excavated? Shall they be placed on exhibition as an all-American product, or is it better to split them into short lengths and distribute them to the pro- fessional humorists? The professional humorists have been running on the two jokes provided for last year, one of them about the Venus of Milo and disarmament and the other about Henry Ford, until it has been generally felt that if our civilization is really going to die before the first of the year, we ought at least to have one other joke to fall back on. The fact is that civilization is dying all the time, but never seems to have sense enough to go off and be decently buried. Every time a funeral oration is pronounced over it, it gets up and staggers along for a few more weeks. The real truth, of course, is that there is never any fear that civilization will die, so long as there are so many people supporting it who are getting something for nothing. They Dick: And we're going to be no end happy together, cannot afford to let it get out of hand. It is altogether too sen we, deer? fitable to them. WI Id the get-rich-quick peopl Janet: Yes, indeed, Dicky; I’m positive of it. Accord- ieee cm: hat would the get-rich-quick people ing to statistics, one in every ten marriages is successful, s . and, goodness knows, my other nine have proved flivvers! T. L. M. comicbooks.com