Life, 1922-10-26 · page 25 of 36
Life — October 26, 1922 — page 25: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page from *Life* magazine contains three distinct satirical pieces typical of the publication's humor: **The cartoon** depicts a street musician at a "Savings Bank" window playing emotional songs ("Home, Sweet Home") to manipulate passersby into giving money. The joke mocks both the musician's manipulative sentimentality and the gullible public's susceptibility to cheap emotional appeals. **"Bridge Post-Impressions"** satirizes bridge players by mixing card-game instructions with absurd mathematical and logical impossibilities, mocking the pretentious complexity bridge players attach to their hobby. **"The Wonders of Radio"** is political satire celebrating radio's broadcasting capabilities while delivering pointed criticism of specific politicians. It praises Senator James A. Reed's clarity while mockingly suggesting that Herbert Hoover's speeches become incomprehensible when broadcast—likely referencing Hoover's reputation as a poor public speaker before his presidency (he became president in 1929). The page exemplifies *Life*'s characteristic blend of social commentary, political jabs, and absurdist humor aimed at educated American readers.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
region is that Miss Verinder’s lover was an explorer who had to go to some such place. But you can skip it, dear readers, unless you are like the man I met last night—an ex- plorer himself—who is going to buy the book simply because of it. For the heroine is brought back to Lon- don and put into a comfortable flat in Orchard Gardens, * * * Mr. Maxwell handles intelligently the idea of a woman’s giving up everything for love. It is well enough for stout hearts and strong minds, he implies, but not at all the thing for those who bend easily under blows. Miss Verinder could do it and come out beautifully, but she couldn’t sit by quietly and let little Mildred Barker go in for the same experience. She saw to it that Mildred had benefit of clergy. In addition to a stout heart and mental straightforwardness, Mr. Maxwell was careful to endow his heroine with a handsome fortune of her own. And that, it seems to the present reviewer, is a point which shouldn’t be overlooked. - LIFE Bridge Post-Impressions EAD the fourth highest in your longest suit and subtract the cube root of eleven from pi times the radius squared. Define a surd; de- fine two surds; define a half-dozen surds; what is their price, f.o.b., Detroit? If your partner bids one no trump, watch your step. Never take a divorcee out in a major suit; not even in a minor one. Don’t shoot until you see the whites of their aces. You must have tops, and three in support, or you are due for some wintry glances. Call out the trump. If it won’t come, call out the Fire Department. Lead through weak- nesses, but keep your powder dry. Two lines are parallel if no one pushes them apart. It is all right in most cases to start from the bottom and work up, but not with a deck of cards. Learn how to keep score. You have no idea how much that helps. Never make a grand slam; the ladies will do that, conversation- ally and otherwise. When you are sure that you know the game, remember Elwell. He was supposed to know it, too. 23 The Wonders of Radio ANY people do not appreciate the wonders of radio. For those who, not having bought a radio set, do not know the wonderful things radio will do, I give the fol- lowing items: It will take a political speech which nobody wants to hear and deliver it in the homes of a million people. It will take crop estimates and agricultural reports for Iowa, Mis- souri, Nebraska, Minnesota and Montana and deliver them nightly to practically every apartment house in New York City. It will take weather predictions for New York City and deliver them with great clearness in Seattle, Spo- kane and Puget Sound. It will take a lecture on “How to Keep Hair from Gathering in a Mili- tary Brush” and send it two thou- sand miles with never a break. It has been able to broadcast a speech by Senator James A. Reed with every word as clear and as dis- tinct as a bell. It will garble a speech by Herbert Hoover beyond recognition. bya “If ya wants to rake it in I'll tell ya how! TI starts to play ‘Home, Sweet Home’, then I busts down ’n cries me eyes out.” “Oh, Gawd! If I only could.” comicbooks.com