Life, 1922-07-27 · page 14 of 36
Life — July 27, 1922 — page 14: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains a single-panel cartoon and two separate literary pieces, not political satire. **The Cartoon:** Shows a man asking a woman why she's hanging a picture upside down; she replies "I sold it that way." The joke satirizes pretentious modern art and gullible collectors—suggesting that abstract or experimental art is so incomprehensible that its orientation doesn't matter, and that people buy it without understanding it. **The Literary Content:** Two poems follow—"Interpretive Dancing" by H.R. (mocking avant-garde dance performance) and "Midsummer" by W.D. (celebrating nature). The dancing poem's detailed parody of an experimental performance reinforces the cartoon's theme: early 20th-century modernism is presented as absurd and incomprehensible to ordinary people.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
A . Why do you hang this picture upside down? She: I sold it that way. Interpretative Dancing HE dancer, draped in a feather, gave a mighty spring, waved her arms desperately about her ankles, took a backward leap and stood coyly poised with her right toe tucked under her left elbow. A flutter of programs! Ah yes! We read: “The Dying Peacock preens herself before her mate after calling together the Fish and Fowls who are her Friends.” In a costume consisting of two ferns and a buttercup, the dancer waved one leg on high, bent backward three times and came up smiling. The program explains: “Nymphus, in running away from the cruel Tree Sprite, suddenly remembers the Rain Cloud’s warning.” Five dancers with a pint of tulle among them and almost more arms and legs than they could use, played ring-around-a-rosy for five minutes, turned their atten- tion to drying their hair, and finally fell prone upon the floor with their legs wrapped about their necks. The program comes to the rescue with: “The Rain- drops mischievously plot to waylay Thunderbolt on his way to the tryst.” The man in front of us whispers to his wife: “Be sure to remind me to stop at the drug store for that porous plaster!” H.R. Midsummer . TILL water pools; where breaks the trout, Cutting the surface, rainbow-hued; The thrilling whine of reel run out, Casting the fly to suit his mood. Still water and a shadowed nook, Just fringed above by frills of white, Where over stones the little brook Washes its garments day and night. Fast water; where the cedar sides Slip down above the rippling riff, Shying and bolting, swift she glides; The light canoe’s a skittish skiff. Tang o’ the pines about your face, Flash o’ the paddle in the sun; Mottled the first, so swift the pace Down through the wooded gantlet run. Wide water ; through the seafoam veil, Just “spilling wind” the white yawls heel, Green water on the leeward rail, The hum of headway ’neath the keel. Slap o’ the waves below the winch, Slub o’ the combers hard alee; A chantey of Romance,—every inch! Vibrant speck on the sprawling sea. comicbooks.com