Life, 1923-05-10 · page 15 of 36
Life — May 10, 1923 — page 15: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains **"Mrs. Pep's Diary,"** a satirical column mocking upper-class leisure activities. The diary entries (May 3rd and 4th) humorously describe trivial social concerns: a woman complaining about gladness at being alive, shopping for diamond earrings, and fretting over train travel etiquette. The cartoon labeled **"Motivation"** depicts a shop clerk exchange satirizing consumer behavior. Miss Formé asks if cheaper items will shrink; the clerk suggests she buy a cheaper brand instead—mocking both customer vanity and retail dishonesty. Other sections include requests for "indistinct photographs" and brief humorous anecdotes about a young "manager" and a boxer celebrity. The overall satire targets **frivolous upper-class preoccupations** and superficial consumer culture of the era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
' LIFE - May All a-twitter at the be- 3rd_—soginning.of this day over nothing at all but glad- ness to be alive, so much so that, had anybody asked me, I could have gone for a walk along the Palisades, a thing which hitherto hath been my idea of the utmost in folly. Lord! I do hope that as I grow older I become not silly, wearing gay rib- bons in my hair and giggling un- duly. Overcome, too, with a great desire to spend money, so out and h the town to lower Madison where is a shop with rose diamond earrings that shame the Ponte Vecchio. And I did buy my- self a handsome pair, and at a far larger outlay than I had intended, but | have discovered that a mer- chant’s price is seldom my own and have learned to bow to the inevi- table. Resolved, too, that Sam, poor wr shall give them to me for my birthday, which is now near, if he do not remember having al- ready given me a lorgnette and a sable skin against the same anni- versary. And so home to write him to that effect, he being out of town on legal business, according to his account, but in reality to play golf. May Off this afternoon for 4th Farmington, to visit the Winchell Smiths, and my Emilie was somewhat abashed when she discovered that the tickets read for Berlin, but I told her it was pronounced differently in New Eng- land, which comforted her a little. And all the way up in the train I did mark the scorniul glances with which railway travelers regard one another, and even caught myself thinking that all the others on board were less than the dust. And though I blush for such Pharisaical psy- chology, I am sure there was no- (Continued on page 31) Motivation Will this bathing suit shrink? Clerk: Positively not. Miss Forme: Miss Forme: Show me a cheaper brand. Indistinct Photographs Solicited Amateur photographers having in their possession imperfect plates marred by light spots, drops of water, teeth marks or thumb prints, are courteously re- quested to submit same to Sir A. C. D. Times Box 114, for inspection and pos- sible exhibition. Interested in anything. Boxiana Decadence ANAGER or Younc GotiatH (sadly): The kid ain't himself an’ that's the truth. I dunno what to make of him, fallin’ off like that when he’s pretty near got the cham- peen. He’s got me worried. He’s goin’ straight to the dogs, that’s what. PRoMOTER: doing? Manacer: I dunno what he’s doing, but he ain’t himself, that’s sure. Why, only the other day I see him comin’ out of a li-bury. The Celebrity ANNOUNCER (at fight club): In- terducin’, ladeez an’ gentlemin, pre- mer pugilistic product uv Passaic; pop’lar an’ sensational lightweight, game an’ aggressive boxer who stands before th’ fans as one uv th’ greatest th’ ring has ever purduced an’ considered in all circles a comin’ champeen, whose fame has spread from Coast to Coast—(sotto voce to the corner of him in question)— say, what’s his name? Why, what's he J. KM. comicbooks.com