Life, 1922-03-09 · page 23 of 34
Life — March 9, 1922 — page 23: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This 1920s *Life* magazine piece satirizes the clash between old academic tradition and modern commercial culture. **The Main Satire:** A young student criticizes his elderly Professor Winterbottom for being "behind the times" and lacking dignity. The Professor responds by claiming professors *cannot* maintain dignity anymore—everyone demands they be modern and entertaining. **The Joke:** To prove his point, the Professor recites a Victorian poem about a dead woman, but rewrites it in "jazz" style with crude jokes about her body being dissected. The student is horrified, expecting academic restraint. **The Punchline:** The Professor notes that all dignity has fled to advertising—he points to a newspaper ad for "chastity waistcoats" that uses absurdly pompous language. The contrast is clear: advertising now steals the flowery language academia once owned, forcing professors to adopt crude entertainment to seem relevant. **Historical Context:** This reflects 1920s anxieties about commercialization eroding intellectual culture, and the era's tension between "old fogies" and modern youth culture. The bottom cartoon is unrelated—a domestic joke about scotch and a thimble.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
trying beard ness tha none 0 seem te models this Faculty any mi He checke air of “Well notice tempor “Yes that tin poor - olk to pull?” Putting FTER all, Pro- fessor,” I said, displaying my blue- pencilled examination blank, “this E minus merely proves that you professors do not understand the Young Intellectual; you are, if I may venture the c criticism, just a little "Biaemtichind the times.” y, what are you The Professor's red tivered, with more plaintive- n defiance, I thought. “There’s this hick stuff about us. You think we're a lot of last year’s in dead storage. But believe bunch of bimboes on the ‘an still hand a K O. in about they get into.’ rossed his black and white golf stockings with a certain y ostentation. in a way,” I said, “I have what may be an effort at con- icousness. sket this Dr. old fishface, you made a ba ie. We're about sick of 1- family - heirloom stuff. LIFE Punch in the Teaching Game Winterbottom, though eighty years old last week, buys his pajamas through Vanity Fair. The Professor of Greek translates the dialogues of Lucian into conversations between Fishbein and Blintz. I myself am shaking the hayseed out of “The Golden Treasury.” I am translating it into vaudeville English.” “Dear, dear! Might I see an ex- ample?” “You're on, old oil-can. that sobstuff of Hood's: You know “One more Unfortunate Weary of breath Rashly importunate, Gone to her death! “I've put some jazz into it! Listen to this: “They gave her body to science When the trials of her life were o'er; Oh, that was a fatal alliance She made in the jewelry store! It shattered her life and it wrecked her To find how a man could behave; Now medical students dissect her, And she can’t even rest in the grave! “How does that hit you, what?” “Really, Professor,” I interrupted, “I Husband: Mary, I want to give Bagsby a taste of that Scotch. am only a Freshman and perhaps a trifle old-fashioned, but I think it is shocking. Is there no longer such a thing as academic dignity?” “Not on the Faculty.” The Profes- sor’s tone was somewhat bitter. “We don’t dare to be dignified. Everyone says we're old fogies.” “Where, then, is the old nobility and restraint of thought and language?” “It’s gone into the advertising busi- ness, my dear fellow. Look at it!” 1 gazed at the newspaper which he held trembling under my eyes. I read: HASTITY THE WAISTCOATS NOW BEING FOR IN ION BY PINCHB ARE INDI E, IN THEIR CHA AND PURITY OF MODELLIN MORAL PURPOSE ANIMATING BECK, ESQ. OFFERED PINCH- Morris Bishop. Tardy “T notice they arrested another big gang of bootleggers in Chicago yes- terday.” : “What for? their deliveries?” Getting behind with 0 iit Lend me your thimble. comicbooks.com