Life, 1923-04-19 · page 10 of 36
Life — April 19, 1923 — page 10: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a children's comic strip about a boy named Skippy and his dog Sooky. The humor centers on a simple moral lesson: children trying to convince the dog to bite someone's tail by promising reward ("chocolate eclairs"). The strip satirizes childhood logic and peer pressure—Skippy and his friend attempt to manipulate Sooky into misbehaving through incentives. When the dog finally does bite, it's presented as a comeuppance: "Ya ain't got any front teeth!" This reflects early 20th-century comics' focus on innocent, slapstick humor rather than political satire. The joke targets children's flawed reasoning and the predictable consequences of mischief, making it educational entertainment typical of *Life* magazine's family-friendly content.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Sooky: He don’t wanna come, do he? Skippy: *Course he don’t. What ya should ought to do is to take the tail off’n him. “Why should I bite the tail off’n him?” “Oh! Maybe I should do it, huh? I should bite your dog’s tail off!” “How’s it coming, Sooky?” “Me an’ Pop was thinkin’ o” sawin’ it off.” “Aw, they don’t saw ’em off, they bite "em off.” “Let’s not fight, Sooky. I'm only doin’ what’s right. Just bite it off and you'll have a thoroughbred.” “I wish I could get me noive up.” “Ker-choo! Ker-choo!” “It’s still on.” Skippy—No. 5 “Listen, Sooky, do me a favor—bite off the dog’s tail now.” “That’s easy! Just close your eyes and think of a chocolate eclair—nothing can be sweeter than that.” “Oh, no wonder! Ya ain’t got any front teeth!” comicbooks.com