Life, 1923-02-15 · page 8 of 36
Life — February 15, 1923 — page 8: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes gender relations and marriage expectations of the early 20th century. The main cartoon depicts a shop window displaying three dressmaker's dummies labeled with prices ($5,000, $10,000), with children observing outside—suggesting women are commodities to be "purchased" through marriage. The accompanying texts mock husbands' preferences and domestic expectations. "My Husband Says" criticizes a man who prefers avoiding his wife's social gatherings and doesn't support his son's education. "The Final Felicity" ironically praises a wife for her athletic accomplishments while remaining subservient ("chauffeuse"). The satire targets the reduction of women to domestic servants and ornamental wives, while mocking male selfishness and limited vision regarding female potential.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
A Bachelor in the Making My Husband Says HAT he prefers to be out when I have callers, because ladies always talk of things that are away beyond him. But I think if he would concentrate, and study Vogue it would help him, and I think it would broaden him a lot. He didn’t see Mrs. Parker coming home when she called the other day. She brought Robbie with her. She takes him every- where. She says it is such an education for him to meet people. Robbie doesn’t care for kindergarten. He went just one day and he bit the teacher. His mother says his subconscious mentality was posi- tively antagonistic to the teacher's temperament. Mrs. Parker says that Robbie is so precocious, and he prefers the companionship of grown people to children. So she teaches him to spell and things at home. She asked him what C-A-T spelled and he said dogma. Mrs. Parker said no, no, darling, what does D-O-G spell, and he said helma. My husband says that when he was six, his mother electrocuted him twice a week for less than that. He says he thinks it’s fierce the things children get away with these days. L. B.S. The Final Felicity ‘VE seen you hunt, my lady D I've watched you take a hurdle, Which seemed to me a mountain And made my vitals curdle. I’ve seen you skim the tennis net, Just shave it, when you're servir I've been your partner in a set, high, ng, And much admired your curving. I’ve seen you at all kinds of sport, When shooting, fishing, riding; You must have joined in every sort Since our first romps, when sli Once you were dubbed, “La Bell ding. le Siffleuse”’— Your lips, when pursed, were charming— But Lady Di, as a chauffeuse, You're really quite alarming! Your pace is, well, a trifle fast, And you’ve been fined for speeding A score of times in days gone past, Despite your pretty pleading. And, I’m afraid, my Lady Di, If in the mode you would be, You'll end, should you essay to fly, An angel ere you should be! comicbooks.com