Life, 1922-05-11 · page 8 of 38
Life — May 11, 1922 — page 8: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The central image depicts a male figure standing triumphantly over a fallen woman, titled "Civic Virtue" and noted as "To be presented to Mayor Hylan by grateful friends and admirers." This is satirical commentary on a famous sculpture (the actual "Civic Virtue" statue). The cartoon mocks the statue's depiction of a muscular man dominating a prostrate female figure labeled to represent vice or corruption. The satire critiques both the sculpture's questionable artistic merit and its gender politics—presenting "virtue" as male dominance over femininity. The reference to Mayor Hylan suggests this relates to 1920s New York politics and public art controversies of that era. The page's surrounding text items are unrelated brief quips typical of Life's satirical format.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
HIE domestic distiller first brews with alarm and then pints with pride. aL John McGraw is not going'to do his baseball managing from the bench this season, but for that matter, neither is Judge Landis. aL Hylan aims to make New York a one-boss town. aL A one-cent stamp has just sold for $32,077. Perhaps Mr. Hays now realizes what a mistake he made in pre- ferring the movies. aL In Ireland there are too many counties heard from. aL Chicago High Schools May Teach Chinese.—Headline. The first thing we know some of our flappers will be speak- ing English, A measure which “shall curb cartoonists in their activity of making public men_ ridicu- lous” has been proposed. Sometimes, alas, the cartoon- ist finds that -he has arrived too late, nature having done the job for him. JL It is still a question whether the Dearborn Independent or the Ford engine does the most knocking. “You check your troubles with your hat,” quoth a restaurant man in his advertisement. But, at least, you can get your troubles back without tip- ping anybody. JL After careful investigation, the New York police report that the crime wave is caused by ultra-violent rays. aL To beach an ocean liner = 100% loss. To beach hotels (same locality) = 300% profit. aL Those Irish compacts sound more like impacts. If we had payrolls made by check in- stead of cash the bandits would be sure to demand that they be certified. JL Somewhat ahead of the cave-man is the Lucy Stone-age woman. Civic Virtue aL To be presented to Mayor Hylan by grateful friends and admirers. Senators Debate Behind Closed Doors. —Headline. If there were only some way of their doing it behind closed mouths. Jack Dempsey said, in Paris, that he had no intention of going up in an aero- plane; but that was no news to the re- cruiting officers of the aviation section, U. S. Army. JL Many readers are asking if Shelley wrote anything in his life besides the caption for a novel by A. S. M. Hutch- inson. : Life, for the average citizen, has settled into a series of raids and radios. aL The Subway Sun says New York City has the largest floating population in the world. What about Venice? eo “There is just as much patri- otism among bankers as there is in Congress,” says one of the former. Why should bankers knock themselves like that? aL The Americans are a hardy race. Despite the earnest ef- forts of gunmen and auto- mobilists and literary critics and after-dinner speakers and jilted women, they keep on increasing. aL It is a fortunate thing that the Greek royal family was restored to the throne. Other- wise, where would the young princes of Europe get their wives? aL There is a renewal of the de- mand for “hard-headed bus- iness men in politics.” A great deal, however, depends upon what it is that makes their heads hard. aL There is a counter in a large bookstore devoted to “Slightly Soiled -Volumes.” A few suggestions: “The Sheik,” “Jurgen,” 2 rea,” and the collected works of Elinor Glyn, aL 1800 A.D. My kingdom for a horse! 1900 A.D. A mortgage on my _ house for a car! 1922 A.D. My reputation for a quart! aL “Nothing is so indispensable to the as- pirant for camera honors as big eyes,” writes a prominent moving picture di- rector. The big head will come later. aL truce is In Ireland, than fiction. stranger comicbooks.com