Life, 1923-06-07 · page 19 of 44
Life — June 7, 1923 — page 19: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes the early 20th-century fad of "spirit photography," referencing Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's public advocacy for the practice. The humor mocks amateur photographers who claimed their images captured ghosts and supernatural phenomena. The main cartoon shows people examining supposed "spirit photographs," with absurd captions explaining ghostly images—a cat from 1879, ancestors, haunted mansion parties, and a great-uncle's spirit seeking port. The joke exposes how believers rationalized obvious photographic flaws (blur, accidents, double-exposures) as genuine supernatural evidence. Below, brief social comedies target wealthy leisure culture: couples perpetually traveling (California, Canada, abroad, "South for the Winter") and the awkwardness of wedding gifts—exchanged, regifted, lost, identical, or eventually causing divorce. The cartoon "The Reason Why They Took Our Telephone Away" shows a man talking excessively about his surgery—satirizing post-operative bore behavior.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Spirit Photography HEN spirit photography (see exhibits of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle) is practiced by ama- teur camera fiends, the appended explanatory comments will accom- pany the showing of an album of spirit snapshots : “That’s the spirit of Tobias, the cat our family had back in 1879.” “This one’s a trifle out of focus, but still it’s pretty good. The spir- its of my great-great-great-great- grandfather and grandmother on the two hundred and fiftieth anni- versary of their wedding.” “Here’s a corker, a flashlight. A haunted-house-party at the old Creepy mansion, near our place.” “This is the best one I’ve got, though quite accidental. I was taking a still-life of our family sideboard when the ghost of my great-uncle George began looking in it for a bottle of old port.” “That's a view of our garden in the country. Those things which appear to be caterpillars are really i They moved, unfertu- y, just as I pressed the buttan.” “I didn’t take this one; it was given to me. It’s a scene from an all-spook movie, David Garrick, Lester Wallack, Nell Gwyn, Char- lotte Cushman, Edwin Booth and Mrs. Siddons. Some cast.” A.H. F. Home, Sweet Home “Hello, old dears, I haven’t seen you since you came back from California.” Tie next session of Congress is “No, we've been motoring in Canada since then.” “Are you going to stay around now for a while?” so iar off that the members will be «wey, we're going abroad day after to-morrow, but we'll be back in time to extra thirsty when they return, go South for the Winter.” Wedding Presents EDDING presents that are exchanged for something else . . . wedding presents that are hidden in the garret . . . wedding presents that are given to servants ... wedding presents that are hurled out of the back window . . . wedding presents that are sent again as wedding presents . . . wedding presents that arrive long after the wedding . . . wedding pres- ents that never arrive . . . wedding presents that are guarded by private detectives in blue suits . . . wed- ding presents that are identical with twenty-seven other wedding presents . . . wedding presents that are ultimately followed by a bill . . . wedding presents that are sent to the wrong address and remain there . wedding presents that are bought at a sale... wedding presents that lead to divorce. Moruers hope their sons will be what they thought their husbands were. “Dip Witherbee get over his operation?” The Reason Why They Took Our Telephone Away “No, he is still talking about it.” comicbooks.com