Life, 1923-01-18 · page 12 of 36
Life — January 18, 1923 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The main illustration shows a cherub/cupid figure playing with a radio receiver, captioned "Things LIFE Would Rather Like to Know." This introduces a humorous list of contemporary mysteries and social commentary. The text references several 1920s-30s figures and topics: Lloyd George (British PM), Tammany Hall (NYC political machine), President Harding, Einstein's theory, Clemenceau, and Freud. The list satirizes current events—election campaigns, labor disputes (plumbers/carpenters earning disputes), and cultural phenomena like Christmas cigars and the Yale debate team. "Modernizing Hamlet" section jokes about a recent theatrical production where actor John Barrymore apparently altered the famous line to "Hollywood, Hollywood"—mocking Hollywood's growing cultural influence over classic literature. The overall tone is sophisticated, topical satire targeting educated readers familiar with contemporary politics and culture.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Things Ll FE Would Rather Like to Know HY Lloyd George thinks it advisable to be all things to all publishers. xk Whether Tumulty considers him- self well enough to run another ad- ministration. xk * Who wrote the music for the Song of Solomon. xe How to find a dressmaker who says she will deliver the dress next Wednesday who will deliver the dress next Wednesday. * eK Whether Will Hays wrote “Fatty” Arbuckle’s plea to the public. * Why the National Bird should not be changed from the E Eagle to the Lame Duck. ** * What the Governor of North Carolina really said to the Governor of South Carolina at the recent Governors’ Conference. ** * Who is going to call the strikes in the Baseball Players’ Union. xe If it is true that too many Klux spoil a Klan. ** * If Senator William E. Borah is the small voice crying in the bewil- derness. Whether the waiter who dropped the bottle in the restaurant of the Senate, as reported in the papers, was discharged for spilling the whis- key or the beans. a Why the farmers should expect to get a quarter as much for a day’s work as plumbers, bricklayers and carpenters. xe Whether it would not have been very much better for President Harding to have consulted a few second-best minds. ** * What Yale team is now being in- structed in the art of losing grace- fully. **e* Which city has more to be thank- ful for: New York because it is not governed by Mayor Thompson, or Chicago because it escaped Mayor Hylan. KOK If D’Annunzio donned the Fran- ciscan habit because he wished to change the locale of that dull, brown feeling. **e* Why Christmas long. cigars last so ROK Whether Princess Anastasia or Prince Christopher signs the dining- room checks. The Greatest Mystery I ’M a regular Holmes at unravel- ing: things ; I can tell when a novel will sell well, I have doped out why Germany doesn’t like kings And I’ve guessed who shot Joseph B. Elwell. There is hardly a thing that I can- not explain From astronomy down to, yachting. I know why the recent election cam- paign Gave the old G. O. P. such a swat- ting. say, I can show where Clemenceau is totally wrong, And where Freud is not clever or subtle; If you think Einstein’s theory not worth a,song; I can prove that it is, in rebuttal. The mind of a flapper is simple to me, Though to you it’s infirm and un- stable; I’m one of the few who immediately see Through the maze of a railroad time-table. I can fathom the ways of a maid with a man, Or a dinosaur’s nocturnal habits ; If you ask me the question I in- stantly can Quote Tasmania’s export of rab- bits. Though I’ve read Conan Doyle and a lot more beside, There is one thing to me still a riddle: Just what is it makes a musician de- cide To play on a double bass fiddle? PW. Modernizing Hamlet In the Players’ scene in “Hamlet” the following lines occur: PLayeR QUEEN: In second hus- band let me be accurst! None wed the second but who killed the first. Hamer (aside): wormwood. It is reported that, at one per- formance recently, Mr. John Barry- more changed Hamlet’s comment to, “Hollywood, Hollywood.” Wormwood, comicbooks.com