Life, 1923-03-22 · page 7 of 36
Life — March 22, 1923 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This cartoon depicts a grocer in his shop with a young bride and her companion. The grocer asks, "Is there something else?" and the young bride responds, "What would you suggest?" The joke satirizes newlyweds—specifically new wives—as inexperienced in household management and shopping. The bride's question implies she doesn't know what groceries to purchase, suggesting that young women of this era lacked practical domestic knowledge despite their social status. The grocer's bemused expression suggests the absurdity of a customer unable to shop independently. The accompanying article critiques modern New York life, discussing urban decay, fashion, and social changes. The satire targets upper-class pretension and the perceived decline of city living standards, consistent with *Life* magazine's commentary on contemporary American society.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Young Bride: ci | Grocer: Is there something else? What would you suggest? Notes and Queries of a Modern Metropolite N no other country in the world is the newness of men’s clothes as apparent as in the United States. Is this an effect of prosperity, of lux- of nation-wide wealth? Or is it not due to the fact that the gar- ments are of inferior stuffs, of poorer workmanship and, hence, wear out more rapidly, thus necessi- tating the purchase of new ones? eee Who has ever overheard a brilliant remark in a fashionable restaurant? eee Back-yards and backgrounds— What, indeed, is the value of the New York back-yard? An eye-sore to the neighborhood, its sole employ- ment of former days has almost vanished with the establishment of the laundry around the corner. It now remains merely an unattractive atavism. Why not abolish it alto- gether? Turn all the back-yards on a block into one large community garden. What possibilities arise at the thought of it! What enchanting effects at once evolve! Designed in simple taste and judiciously sprinkled with flowers and shrubbery, a background of beauty would arise from what is to-day a sordid waste. **e* When all the proposed structures of New York will be ultimately erected, it will be time to begin de- molishing. most of the others. **e* When opera parties cease to exist we may have musical appreciation in the beau monde. kK The theory that the Americano is a fellow more immune to folly, fri- volity and frittering than is the Eu- ropean js one wholly without basis. Witness his attendance at ball games, theatres, cafés, motion-picture pal- a restaurants, dance-halls, ete., etc.! It is not that he is more enam- ored of his business interests than is the foreigner. It is merely that he gasses more about them. * KK Why is there no restaurant in the entire city where a woman may dine alone without feeling that the other patrons believe that she is having an empty evening? ** * Surely New York has undergone a marked metamorphosis within the last decade. Where to-day is one able to discover a lunch wagon, a hansom cab rank, a hanky-panky stand, a minstrel show, a pair of peg- top trousers, a horse car, a vendor of sweet lavender. . . a girl minus make-up ? C.'G.«S. comicbooks.com