Life, 1923-04-26 · page 24 of 36
Life — April 26, 1923 — page 24: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes early 20th-century American domestic life and advertising culture through two main pieces: **"Chronicles of Dumbell"** is a mock-biblical parody (styled after Egyptian tomb inscriptions) about a lazy husband demanding breakfast from his reluctant wife "Insipid." The exaggerated, archaic language ridicules both marital conflict and male entitlement—the husband threatens his wife while she ignores him from bed, then he makes his own coffee. It's social satire about gender relations presented as absurdist comedy. **The "Chicago" poem** celebrates the city with boastful, often contradictory claims (calling it "Hub of the Railroad Wheel" while acknowledging its "Windy City" nickname). This gently mocks civic pride and marketing hyperbole. **"If the Advertising Slogans Were Scrambled"** shows three cartoon vignettes mixing famous product slogans—"Sees all—Knows all," "Gifts that Last," "Fresh every hour"—with absurd situations. The satire targets how ubiquitous and meaningless advertising jargon had become. Overall: sharp social commentary on marriage dynamics, urban boosterism, and commercial culture's infiltration of everyday life.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Being the Chronicles of Dumbell, the Son of Adenoid The Chronicles of Dumbell, now given to the Public for the first time, are the translations from a papyrus found in the re- cently excavated Tomb of Blaa, which Egyptologists had long given up hope of ever discovering.* Pharaoh Blaa was the founder of the Eighteenth, or as it is better known, the Gloom Dynasty.—Epitor. “Aegypten und Aegyptischen Leben im Altertum, Tiibingen, Berlin, 1885. A ND lo, it came to pass that upon the morning of the second day, Dumbell, the son of Adenoid, arose and girded up his loins and stood before her whom he had taken to wife, Insipid, the daughter of Stupe, of the tribe of Sap; and he called out to her to arise and prepare for him food that he might go forth into the land and gather unto him- self some jack, and she turneth her face to the wall and heedeth him not And Dumbell, the son of Adenoid, waxed wroth; and he lifted up his “Sees all - Knows all” Adolph Block, voice and spake unto Insipid, his helpmeet, saying: “Know thou that I am hep to thy stalling and if thou hittest not the deck upon the instant, verily shalt thou be dotted upon thy dome.” And Insipid, the daughter of Stupe, pulleth over her head the covers, and she moaneth; yea, and she snorteth; yea, and she lamenteth. even as the landlord lamenteth as he raiseth the rent. And Dumbell went forth into the kitchen and made cof- fee, as was his wont. Selah. Harvey Kent. “Gifts that Chicago (Pop. 2,701,701, Including the Author) SING of Armour & Co., Although the race is also To the Swift and Company. I stretch from Evanston, On the North, To Calumet and Blue Island, On the South; And I yawn all the way out to Oak Park or Maywood In the evening. If all my mail-order catalogues Were laid cover to cover They would loop the “Loop” 31,416 times. They call me “The Hub of the Railroad Wheel.” If all my visitors held their tongues They would not call me “The Windy City”; If all my stockyards were placed Aroma to aroma, They would smell to high Heaven. I am out of Montgomery Ward By Sears Roebuck. I am the principal town In Cook County. Cc. 1. C. Partially Qualified Rus: Have you any knowledge of farming ? Dus: I can complain about the weather ! Using your knowledge of one woman in trying to understand an- other is like trying to find your way around Greater New York with a map of Chicago. “Fresh ever> hour” fog” If the Advertising Slogans Were Scrambled comicbooks.com