Life, 1922-06-01 · page 7 of 34
Life — June 1, 1922 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a social satire cartoon illustrating a scene at an auction house. The illustration shows well-dressed figures engaged in heated bidding, with one woman (identified in the caption as "One Lady") glaring at another man (identified as "May Harvey"). The joke relies on a common social awkwardness: two people competing fiercely in an auction, driving up prices against each other. The woman's threat—"if you insist on bidding against me, I'll never speak to you again"—satirizes how people can become irrationally competitive and emotionally volatile over acquiring objects at auction, letting social vanity override rational economics. The cartoon mocks upper-class auction culture and the absurdity of interpersonal conflict triggered by acquisition rivalries.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
> it, enly ‘asm arry tell e to ) re- hat's eart- Only have Mr. - LIFE - Annual Being Extracts From a Series of Letters by Mr. Dubbleigh Force-Worne During March, ES, we shall go away this summer, but not to Lake Kerjinkerjank, you bet. Never again! The fishing js bad, the golf course impossible, mosquitoes swarm. The cooking at the Gatherum Inn is sickening, and the rooms are disgusting. If we don’t go abroad, we shall try the seashore. * ok Ok It doesn't look as if we could get to Europe, year. Business hasn't been good. The seashore is pretty expensive, too. We haven’t decided where to go, yet. Of course we're used to Lake Kerjinkerjank, but the place has so many drawbacks that we'd only go there as a last resort. April, May and June. As vacation approaches, we are still undecided. We can’t stand the awful board and rooms at the Gatherum Inn, and if we go to Lake Kerjinkerjank we shall rent a cottage and do our own cooking. What is a vacation if you can’t rough it a little? x oe * We've been trying to rent a cottage at Lake Kerjinkerjank, but find that they are all taken. Of course we might go somewhere else, but it’s hard to find as good an all-round resort as that. We think of getting rooms at the Gatherum Inn, and taking our meals at Bunque’s Boarding House, only a mile away. We can’t stand beans every day. At the Auction Written Well, we're off for Lake Kerjinker- jank next week, and the children can hardly wait. Of course the only draw- back is the everlasting sameness of the meals at the Gatherum Inn, but I guess it’s that way almost every place. Be- sides, you can’t have rooms at the Inn unless you take your meals there, too, and that’s the only place to room. * ok * Back to good old Lake Kerjinker- jank, and I tell you it’s just like getting home again! We've been mighty lucky in getting the same rooms we had last year. I am going to overhaul my fishing tackle and golf clubs this eve- ning. Wish you were here! mA Ml One Lady (glaring at the other): May Harvey, if you insist on bidding against me, I'll never speak to you again. comicbooks.com