Life, 1923-02-15 · page 13 of 36
Life — February 15, 1923 — page 13: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a humorous narrative about Mr. Twitter's failed New Year's resolution to quit smoking. The piece chronicles his gradual backsliding: he starts by discarding cigarettes at 9:00 AM, inspects tobacco shops by 9:55, encounters a friend ("Mr. Bixby") and begins rationalizing, admires pipe tobacco, and by 10:33 is purchasing cigars again. The accompanying sketch depicts two men conversing outdoors, likely representing Twitter and Bixby's fateful meeting. The caption below—"He: After all, life is but a game. She: You must be very athletic"—appears unrelated, suggesting either a separate cartoon or editorial comment on human weakness and self-delusion. The satire mocks the universal failure of New Year's resolutions, particularly smoking cessation, through precise, darkly comic timing.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
0 is, then into mbs, each nbed nity. glue and and ce of ab is the arely ance yver- taste \mps, more ) my ig to even time. F, LIFE Timetable of a Man Who Has Resolved to Give Up Smoking M. 9:00. Mr. Twitter announc- A s to the family at breakfast table that he has sworn off smok- ing. Mrs. Grinnell, his mother-in- law, emits a sniff, which her daugh- ter endeavors to cover up by saying sweetly, “Why, how nice, Frederick.” 9 Mr. Twitter inspects his smoking stock. Finds two boxes of ciga’ Throws them into waste basket amines pipes. Decides to throw them away, too, but is re- strained by wife. “You might want to give them to somebody, Fred,” she Looks at newspapers, his glance occasionally wandering to his en’t decided to give it up, al- ready. have you?” asks Mrs. Grin- nell. Mr. Twitter grunts unintel- ligibly. It sounds very much like “I'm no woman.” 9:50. Mr. Twitter seems restless. Decides to go for a walk. Does so. for a Year 9:55. Bixby. “Sworn off smoking, Bix,” he says. Bixby’s eye lightens. “So have I,” he responds. “Feel better already,” says Mr. Twitter. “So do I,” answers Mr. Bixby. They decide to walk together. 1 . “It lowers a man’s vital- ity,” says Mr, Twitter. “And burns up a lot of money,” adds Mr. Bixby. 10:10. They stop to look into a cigar-store window. “Nice-looking pipes,” says Mr. Twitter. “You know those ‘El Ropos’ make a pretty good smoke,” replies Mr. Bixby. “But we've sworn off,” answers Mr. Twitter. “So we have,” answers Mr. Bixby. They move on, 10:20. “I can notice an improve- On street meets old friend, He: After all, life is but a game. She: You must be very athletic. ment in my wind already,” comments Mr. Twitter. “It's helped my digestion, too,” Mr. Bixby discovers, 10:30. They pass another cigar- store and pause to look at the win- dow. “Nice pipes,” says Mr. Twitter. “You know those Ropos’ are a darned good smoke,” answers Mr. Bixby. 10:31. Mr. Twitter looks quickly up and down the street. “Let's go inside,” he suggests. Mr. Bixby looks up and down the * street before replying. “Let's,” he agrees. 10:33. Mr. Twitter and Mr. Bixby seen leaving tobacco shop smoking cigars. “Upsets a fellow’s nerves to give up a habit too suddenly,” remarks Mr. Twitter. “Very dangerous indeed,” responds Mr. Bixby. comicbooks.com