Life, 1922-07-06 · page 23 of 36
Life — July 6, 1922 — page 23: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains a **title-writing contest** for a Maxfield Parrish painting (visible at top left—a figure in dark clothing posed dramatically against large letters). Life offered $500-$100 in prizes for the cleverest, briefest titles, with submissions due August 1, 1922. Below is a humorous **poem titled "Mystery"** that poses philosophical questions about nature, concluding with self-deprecating satire: the poet admits charging a dollar per line for verses, then the editor quips it's actually worth fifty cents—mocking overwrought literary pretension. At bottom is a **cartoon joke** featuring two working-class women (likely Irish immigrants, suggested by names "Clancy" and "McFee"). One asks what "sex" means from newspaper discussions; the other replies it must be expensive since people keep talking about it—satirizing both the era's sexual frankness debates and working-class detachment from sophisticated discourse.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
LIFE .- 21 LIFE’S Title Contest Fak the best title to the Maxfield Parrish picture above, Lire will award prizes as follows: $500.00 $200.00 $100.00 First Prize Second Prize Third Prize The Contest will be governed by the following ConpDITIONS: (Contestants are advised to read these conditions care- ', and to conform to them exactly. Lire cannot ertake to enter into correspondence or to reply to By “best” is understood that title which most cleverly and briefly describes the picture above. The contest is now open and open to everybody, and will close at this office at noon on Tuesday, August Ist, 1922. Titles will be judged by three members of Lire’s Edi- torial Staff, and their decision will be final. Titles may be original, or may be a quotation from some well-known author, and should not exceed twenty words each. Contestants may send in more than one title, but not more than ten to a sheet. Should we have duplicates of any of the winning an- swers, the full amount of the prize will be given each tying contestant. The final award will be announced as early as possible after the close of the contest (allowing for completion of the final reading). Checks will be sent simultaneously with the announcement of the award. The members of Lire’s staff, of course, are not per- mitted to compete. All titles should be addressed to Lire’s Picture Title Contest, 598 Madison Avenue, New York, N. Y. En- velopes should contain nothing but the competing titles, typewritten or very plainly written, using one side of paper only, with the name and address of the sender on each sheet. Mystery HERE does the tall sun walk at night? Where is the frost, in June? Where, by day, do the stars take flight, Hoarding the silver moon? Where did the roses learn to dress Green with a crimson hood? Who taught the gray dove tenderness, Hid in the fearful wood? Where do the tired sparrows sleep When the still dusk has come? Who crowned the breakers of the deep With their eternal foam? Where did the land's last lonely marge First take the ocean’s kiss? And where did I get the nerve to charge A dollar* a line for this? CW. *I guess about fifty cents—Editor. III E* Yours, “What do be this sex they’re always talkin’ about in th’ pa-a-pers, Mrs. Clancy?” “I dunno, Miss McFee, but it must be expinsive, or they wouldn’t talk about it.” comicbooks.com