Life, 1922-06-01 · page 15 of 34
Life — June 1, 1922 — page 15: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This ink sketch depicts a chaotic group of wildly gesturing figures gathered together—"Movie Fans" according to the caption. The cartoon satirizes the fervent behavior of motion picture enthusiasts, showing them as excitable and dramatically expressive, with exaggerated body language and expressions. The accompanying poem "The Family Skeleton" uses dark humor to mock family members' creative pursuits: relatives writing stories and plays involving "horrors, crime and gore," and a grandmother wanting to "write romances" and "set the world ablaze." The satire suggests that aspiring writers in ordinary households harbor grandiose artistic ambitions. The humor targets both cinema's devoted audience and amateur writers' pretensions during the early film era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
es oe | tS HE, aoe The Family Skeleton ‘oes at home are quite ex- citing— Since we’ve had the scribbling craze All my relatives are writing Stories, novelettes and plays. Brother pens a tale of mystery, Full of horrors, crime and gore; Mother writes “The Secret History Of the Folks That Live Next Door.” y clad in flowing wrappers, r Sue remains indoors; \s a queen among the flappers She no longer reigns, but pours Forth her soul in verses burning With the passion and the fire Of a modern maiden’s yearning— Sister smites a wicked lyre! Grandma wants to write romances: Tales to set the world ablaze; And at night she goes to dances, Picture-shows and cabarets; “For,” asserts the gay old sinner, “Ere an authoress can give le very best that’s in her, must live and live and live!” J. ALS. The Fresh Air Endowments LMOST everybody had Liberty bonds when Lire started its plan of Fresh Air Endowments. The patriotic impulse had distributed these securities in the hands of a great many persons. They were not regarded so seriously then as they are now when peace and prosperity have shown how valuable they are in the world’s market places. * But those generous persons who re- sponded to Lire’s appeal to contribute two of the hundred-dollar bonds to make sure that for all time some poor little child should be taken from New York’s heated slums every summer and be given a fort- night of fresh air and good food in the country, have no reason to regret their loss of profit on the securities. To their credit will always accrue the dividend of happiness to some poor child who sadly needs it. And this dividend is safeguarded for the years and years of the future, as long as our institutions endure. Liberty bonds are scarcer than they were when the Endowments were first started. But the need of fresh air for poor children is just as great. Therefore Lire no longer suggests that Liberty bonds only are appropriate to create Endowments. Two hundred dollars in cash, or in face value of any securities which return, will establish a Fresh Ai ment. a fair Endow- The donor of an Endowment may give to it any name desired to remain as a per- petual monument of kindly purpose. As it is, two hundred and forty-two poor city children are assured every summer of re- lief from their hot-weather misery through the generosity of Lire’s readers who have provided the necessary funds for Endow- ments. Since our last acknowledgments Lire has received from R. A. S. Bloomer, Esq., of Newark, New York, Liberty bond for one hundred dollars and cash, one hun- dred dollars, to establish Fresh Air EnpowMent No. 242. In Memory of Samuet Myrick Bioomer. Born November twenty-fourth, 1889. Died March second, 1922, at Newark, New York. (Continued on page 27) comicbooks.com