Life, 1922-11-02 · page 13 of 40
Life — November 2, 1922 — page 13: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The cartoon at top shows a grotesquely caricatured ostrich with an absurdly swollen body being hunted by tiny figures with nets—a visual pun on "Hunting the Forerunner of the Thanksgiving Turkey." Below, the page presents correspondence between Mrs. Twitter (a student) and the E.Z. Art Correspondence School. The letters satirize mail-order art education scams. Mrs. Twitter has submitted a drawing of a telescope, but the school criticizes her anatomical understanding and demands she redraw it—implying the correspondence course is both useless and exploitative, extracting monthly payments while providing dubious instruction. The school's final letter threatens legal action if payment isn't made, exposing predatory business practices targeting amateur artists seeking affordable instruction.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
gp A A 2 Hunting the Forerunner of the Thanksgiving Turkey Mrs, Twitter and Her Art Course Part 2 EAR Mrs, Twitter: We are going to ask you to redraw this picture of the little girl sitting on a log, holding a telescope in her hand. We do this merely because we wish to have another copy of so unusual a piece of work. We wish that you would examine the original with particular care this time. If, when you make the second copy, you will place the little tot’s head squarely between her shoulders, and leave the mittens off her hands, we are sure that you will be pleased with the result. Again we wish to congratulate you on the strides you are making. Enclosed you will find the usual monthly bill. May we ask that you give this as careful attention 1s you have the instructions we have given you? Yours sincerely, E. Z. Art CorrESPONDENCE SCHOOL. DEAR Mrs, Twitter: You misunderstood the instructions of the Lesson calling for the original composition by the student of some simple household object. What we meant was a vase, cup, dish or similar ornament. We assume that the figure you sent us is your husband, but not being familiar with his personal appearance we are unable to determine how accurately you have transferred him to paper. We are intensely interested in our students and hope that you will not mind a few questions which are prompted by the drawing you have sent us. Was he in the World War—or just a private one? It hardly seems possible that one could have met with such wholesale injuries except on the other side. We hope that he had his money well invested before enlisting and he is not forced to work for a living now. We are sending you, under separate cover, one best quality Skinner’s No. 2 drawing pencil and three sheets of drawing paper. For this there is no extra charge, but it is included under the terms of our generous install- ment plan, for which we beg to call to your attention, pay- ment is now due. Yours sincerely, E. Z. Art CorrespoNDENCE SCHOOL, Dear Mrs. Twitter: We beg to assure you that no reflection was intended on your husband, and the criticisms were made solely with a view to pointing out certain minor defects in his anatomy which we believed to be your fault and not his. You show great promise in your work and we would advise earnestly against your discontinuing your efforts. We wish also to remind you that the monthly installments must be made, under the terms of our contract, whether or not you finish the course. Yours sincerely, E. Z. Art CorresPoNDENCE SCHOOL. Dear Mrs. Twitter: If payment in full is not made by the fifth of the month, your account will be placed in the hands of our attorney. With best wishes, Yours Sincerely, E. Z, Art CorresponDENCE ScHooL. comicbooks.com