Life, 1922-11-09 · page 7 of 36
Life — November 9, 1922 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page from *Life* magazine contains a satirical cartoon and a comedic dialogue piece titled "Six of One, Six Dozen of Another." The cartoon depicts a soldier in what appears to be a military office or barracks, with the caption: "What's the big idea, keeping all this junk? 'Junk, Hell! Them are souvenirs. Can't a guy treasure a few things to remember the Great War by?'" **Context:** This satirizes post-WWI soldiers hoarding military memorabilia and junk, claiming sentimental value from their war experience. The humor lies in the contrast between the officer's dismissal of the items as worthless and the soldier's insistence on their emotional significance. The adjacent text piece appears to be a humorous telephone conversation advertisement parody, mocking trivial product advertisements and consumer culture through exaggerated phone exchanges about various mundane goods (hosiery, bread, tomatoes, etc.).
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“Junk, Hell! Them are souvenirs. “What's the big idea, keeping all this junk?” Can’t a guy treasure a few things to remember the Great War by?” Six of One, Six Dozen of Another (Contracts are to be invited for displaying advertisements in telephone boxes.—News Item.) Scene: A telephone booth, liber- ally adorned with information as to the virtues of Somebody's Soap and Somebody Else’s Sausages. Enter aman. He deposits his nickel in the slot ELLO . Standard 6588, please + (a long lull during which he learns ell about Maxon’s | Mayonnaise, Choo-Lets, Affinity Asparagus, Caress-Mi Cor- sets, Stollberg’s Spineless Spaghetti, etc., etc. Hello? Oh, hello, Imo- gen. What? Yes “ yes all right. You tell me the list you want and I’ll bring them home with me. One can of tomatoes . . . a dozen peaches two spools of number sixty thread, white . . . a jar of Goldglow Mayonnaise — why not Maxon’s? What? .. . What do I know about Maxon’s? I know all about it. It’s the best you can get what? it says so On the adver- tisement well, you could try it . . . oh, all right any- thing more you want? A box of potato chips what kind? é Peerless? Why don’t you get Duffy’s Because they're probably better I didn’t say they were no, I like the ad s . listen . . . “Duffy's Ber- muda Wafers — Chips of the Old Spud” . . . what? . . . oh, all right, but I think it’s a great ad, just the same. Is that all? Of course I know the list no, I haven’t it written down, -it’s in my head ... what? Certainly I can repeat it . . One can tomatoes Sunrise toma- toes, all right Two spools of . . . “Clingsoft Hosiery, It Does You Right.” Oh, boy, I'll say e @ what? No, my eye just wandered anad ... here here in the booth . . . in the booth! I'll start over it’s some ad, Imogen : + Teally all right... One dozen white tomatoes, a jar of sixty peaches, two spools of May- onnaise Clingsoft potatoes thos Caress-Mi Corsets Becker’s Baby-breath Bread Thurston’s Teeth-white os Manico Globules é Uxo Gimmy’s : what? . . . what! Oh, blazes! I'll call you up from the office. BANG!! (he puts up the receiver and rushes out). H.W. H. comicbooks.com