Life, 1923-04-12 · page 6 of 40
Life — April 12, 1923 — page 6: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page from *Life* magazine presents a satirical diary entry mocking domestic life and social pretension. The April 7th entry humorously catalogs the "singular subjects" a wife must discuss with her husband—pins, hairnets, elastic, lingerie ribbons—items essential to household management but trivial to male ears. The diary notes how even these mundane discussions become "gales" requiring marital diplomacy. The April 8th entry satirizes the author's eagerness to consult an astrologer (Mrs. Blank) about her marriage prospects, while also mocking Lydia Loomis, a fortune-teller figure promising financial success to "distant lands." The cartoon below depicts a woman at a vanity, boasting to a child about attending a concert featuring Rachmaninoff, suggesting vanity and social climbing despite domestic ordinariness. The satire targets middle-class aspirations and gender roles of the era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
April All the morning in the 7th shops assembling pins, hairnets, elastic, lingerie ribbon, etc., prosaic enough articles, but the absence of which in time of need can rock a household to its foundations. Thence to an inn with Marge Boothby, and she did hit upon the most singular subjects for dis- cussion, such as, for instance, whether or not royal personages carry money in their pockets, and how Mr. Selfridge would interpret “The King can do no wrong” if George Windsor came into his shop and helped himself to this and that “Have I got a date, to-night? I hope to tell you, kid, I have. LIFE f with no mention of pay. One word fol- lowed another in the silliest talk that ever I took part in, until we were in such a gale that we maintained an ap- pearance of com- posure with the greatest difficulty. . .At cards all the evening, and when I did ask Sam to make some drinks when he became dummy his response was that, judging from his hands to that point, if we waited for a drink until he was dummy, we should all die of thirst. Whereupon I rebuked him roundly, his holdings having been no worse than anyone else’s. The poor wretch’s pessimism at the bridge table is incredible, in view of his cheerfulness everywhere else. For though he draw three Aces and four Kings, he feels that the gods have held out the other Ace on him. In spite of his lamentations, we with a thr-r-r-illing man!” did gain forty-two dollars. And so to bed, after sneaking a stuffed tomato from the ice-box. April The telephone a-ringing 8th early, and it was Lydia (Lord’s Day) Loomis stating irom Morristown that shé must see a soothsayer this very day on a inat- ter of utmost importance, and asking me if I could direct her to one. So I did tell her about Mrs. Blank. the astrologist, though doubtful if she could get a reading on the Sabbath. I was at some pains, too, not to in- quire the nature of Lydia’s uncer- tainty, since people do not consult such augurs except on matters of money and love, and Lydia has more money than she can ever spend. Nor was it kind of her to give me no hint, neither, albeit I do not doubt I can learn what she is up to by questioning her adroitly when next we meet. But Lord! I am amazed that even such a lightweight as Lydia should take fessional prophecy seriously. re must be many like her among us, too, yet we keep on financing mission- aries to bear light to distant lands B.L. . I'm going to hear Rachmaninoff comicbooks.com