Life, 1923-05-17 · page 30 of 46
Life — May 17, 1923 — page 30: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page features **Life's Picture Title Contest**, a reader-participation feature where subscribers submit creative captions for untitled illustrations. The top image shows an elegant social gathering—a Victorian or Edwardian parlor scene with well-dressed guests. Below is an unrelated cartoon showing two men at what appears to be a prison or institutional window. One figure (likely an inmate) claims to be spiritually "outside pickin' vi'lets" while physically confined, asking the warden what he'll do about it. The dialect ("de," "vi'lets," "wot ye") suggests working-class speech, and the joke plays on the tension between physical imprisonment and claimed spiritual freedom—a commentary on either spiritualism's popularity or prisoners' defiant attitudes. The page also includes a romantic poem titled "Knowledge" by James K. McGuinness, unrelated to either cartoon.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
LIFE LIFE’S Picture Title Contest This Picture Has No Title For the best titles to this picture, Lire will award prizes as follows: First Prize .... ++ $500 Second Prize + $300 Third Prize . - $150 Fourth Prize .. vee $50 ConpiTIONs. (Contestants are advised to read these conditions carefully, and to conform to them exactly. LiFe can- not undertake to enter into corres- pondence or to reply to inquiries.) By “best” is understood that title which most cleverly and briefly de- scribes the picture above. The contest is now open and open to everybody, and will close at this office at noon on Tuesday, June 12th. Titles will be judged by three members of Lire’s Editorial Staff, and their decision will be final. Titles may be original, or may be a quotation from some well-known author. They should not exceed twenty words each. Contestants may send in more than one title, but not more than ten to a sheet. Should we have duplicates of any of the winning answers, the full amount of the prize will be given each tying contestant. The final award will be announced as early as possible after the close of the contest (allowing for comple- tion of the final reading). Checks will be sent simultaneously with the announcement of the award. The members of Lire’s staff, of course, are not permitted to compete. Address all titles to Lire’s Picture Title Contest, 598 Madison Avenue, New York, N. Y. Envelopes should contain nothing but the competing titles, typewritten (or very plainly written), using one side .of paper only, with the name and address of the sender on each sheet. Answers which do not conform to these requirements will not be considered in the contest. Knowledge H! She was passing fair of face, A fragile thing and dainty-formed. So delicate her fawn-like grace My heart, in ecstasy, was warmed. So innocent her well-deep eyes. (Ah! Youth was in their smiling blue; Such youth as never, never dies.) I looked into them—and I knew. Like golden fringes of the day Her hair, in splendor, webbed her face. And every jealous wind at play Came rushing for a brief embrace, So fair was she; and then she spoke, Her words well chosen, and so few: “Say! Who's bloke?” I listened to them—and I knew. that funny-lookin’ James K. McGuinness. “Say, Warden, I’m outside in de spirit world pickin’ vi'lets—wot ye goin’ to do about it?” comicbooks.com