Life, 1922-03-23 · page 23 of 34
Life — March 23, 1922 — page 23: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satirical page mocks etiquette manuals popular in the early 20th century by illustrating absurd social violations. Each cartoon depicts a scenario where someone commits a faux pas, with captions explaining the breach of proper behavior. The jokes target both the rigid rules of high society and the people who violate them: a bigamist bridegroom, a man ignoring his doctor's orders at dinner, someone misidentifying a dance, a man using excessive familiarity with a stranger, and a fellow addressing women without proper introduction. The humor derives from the disconnect between the trivial nature of these infractions and the gravity with which etiquette books treated them. By presenting increasingly ridiculous violations, the cartoonist mocks how obsessed contemporary society manuals were with enforcing minute social conventions among the upper classes.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
21 Etiquettessen With apologies to the publishers of a recent book on how to behave “The bridegroom is doing something entirely con- trary to the best social usages. He already has a wife in Rochester.” “This man can never win the respect and admiration of others by such behavior. His doctor has given him strict orders not to eat meat.” “Anyone could see at a glance that this man is not used to social functions. He thinks the orchestra is playing a waltz.” “He has just said to this woman, ‘Well, Edith, and how are all the folks?” Her name is Bessie.” “This young man is revealing his lack of knowledge of what is correct. He has never been introduced to these two ladies.” comicbooks.com