Life, 1923-04-12 · page 7 of 40
Life — April 12, 1923 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This six-panel comic by James Montgomery Flagg satirizes the frustrations of getting a haircut during wartime shortages (likely WWI era, given the references). The humor centers on absurd situations a man encounters: 1. A barber cuts hair in a moving train 2. A customer endures an "Achenian cut-worm" eating into his head 3. Finding a badger has created the haircut 4. A kookaburra's bite explains the result 5. The man's disheveled appearance makes him unrecognizable 6. He's locked out of his own home for 30 days due to his appearance The satire mocks wartime inconveniences and the difficulty of obtaining basic services, presenting increasingly absurd explanations for poor haircuts as comic commentary on scarcity and everyday frustrations.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
* LOPE + 45 wil . iw me BETWEEN TRANS IN ASMALL TOWN | YOU PEACEFULLY Doze AS TRE ARMEN AN ND YOu CARE RU Muy EXPLAIN N TAT, YOU WANT A: LIGHT BEGINS EATING INTO YOUR TRATEH Ac SCORDING TO HS BLENDED — S ) AND YOU WAKE TO FIND YoU Ane Wie. OWNER OF A WHICH MAKES YOUR HEAP LOOK LIKE A Rocky FoRD | * BADGERS Ce tw A NOIRE You DO NOT Rscocnize You N WITH A KITTEN ON IT. THERE 1S NOTHING FOR FOMMAND THE CUT-WORM TO GO ON TRIMMIN' ITN TA ComeLere SH EARIN aie |e LE” vis HICH MADE YOUR. APPEARANCE So LOATHSOME_ YOU You DECIDED Twas BEST TS Come: AND GET LocKeD UP FOR Ar a LAST 50 pays ! IBLic UNTIL TH JAMES WONT RY FACE ae and Your Haircut comicbooks.com