Life — October 5, 1922 — page 14: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This cartoon satirizes a fad called "Beaver," described as "London's latest sport." The image shows an enormous, densely packed crowd of well-dressed men in formal attire and top hats, with several figures in the center appearing to participate in or demonstrate the sport. The satire targets mob mentality and the arbitrary nature of fashionable trends among the wealthy elite. The "sport" itself remains deliberately unclear—the joke is that Londoners will enthusiastically adopt any fashionable activity, however nonsensical or undignified, simply because it's deemed trendy. The artist (Gluyas Williams, per the signature) mocks how the upper class mindlessly follows fads, creating chaotic crowds around whatever is declared the "latest" thing.