Life, 1923-06-07 · page 33 of 44
Life — June 7, 1923 — page 33: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes the perceived decline of American intellectuals through a mock "distress appeal." The humor centers on intellectuals in Greenwich Village (the bohemian artistic enclave) who are supposedly starving—literally surviving on newspaper editorial pages and copies of *The Dial* (a prestigious literary journal). The satire suggests that intellectuals are intellectually malnourished despite consuming high-minded reading material. When asked about their crisis, one attributes it to "poverty of thought" from reading dramatic criticisms—implying that engagement with arts criticism creates mental emptiness rather than nourishment. The accompanying poem titled "Caprice" appears to exemplify the pretentious, emotionally overwrought output these struggling intellectuals produce. The page is otherwise dominated by advertisements (Tiffany & Co., Forhan's toothpaste, dress linings), which ironically juxtapose commercial materialism against the idealistic poverty of the intellectual class being mocked.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Will You Help? Tus appeal is sent forth broad- cast in hopes that a distinguished class among us will be saved. It is not generally known that American intellectuals are in dan- ger of extinction. Pitiful cases are coming to our attention in every mail. Only this morning a prominent Harvard man, once red- cheeked and rather stout, was dis- covered wandering about on the outskirts of Greenwich Village with a copy of the editorial page of the Tribune clasped to his breast. He said he had not had an original idea for nearly three months. Another case was reported of a whole family of intellectuals who had nothing left but a copy of the Dial: they had been living on that for weel Intelligence tests among intellec- tuals show a rating of three years and four months—on the average. When asked what the trouble was, one of them said, as he wrapped a page of Hearst's Sunday American Adan er signal - tender and bleeding gums EALTHY teeth cannot live in diseased tissue, Gums tainted with Pyorrhea are dangerously dis- eased. For not only are the teeth affected, but Pyorrhea germs into the body, lower its vitality and cause many ills. Pyorrhea begins with tender and bleeding gums. Then the gums re- cede, the teeth decay, loosen and fallout or must be extracted to rid system of the poisonous germs th treed in pockets about them. Four out of five forty have this disease, But you beednothaveit. Mig your dentist often for teed gum in: ton. And keep Pyorrhea away byusing Porhesr’s Forthe Gums. Fochan’s For the Gums will prevent Pyorrhea—or check its Progress — if used in time and used consistently. Ordinary dentifricescann. tdo this. For han's keeps the gumshard and healthy, the teeth white and clean. IF you have tender or eding gums, start using it today. If gum-shrinkage has already setin, use Forhan's according to directions, and consult a dentist immedi- ately for special treatment. and_60c tubes in U.S. and Canada. 8. 9, Fortune Be. & OR THE GUMS ss) TIFFANY & GO. JEWELERS AND SILVERSMITHS SPANNING FOUR GENERATIONS NewYork. FIFTH AVENUE & 372 STREET PARIS, 25 RUE DE LA PAIX LONDON,W. 25 MADDOX STREET about him: “It’s poverty of thought, that’s what it is. I got this readin’ dramatic criti- cisms. What they need is mental food. The question is, where are they going to get it? T. L. M. Caprice So green the grass, so blue the sky, So rife the world with spring, Why should my feet drag slowly by, My heart refuse to sing? So chill the cloud, so bare the ground, So bleak the world and sear, Why. should my feet make joyous sound, My heart speak blithe and clear? RL, J. READY-TO-WEAR DRESS LININGS inutes—a few stitches and better made, better f g than you could make. , comfortable and durable. Nainsook, Net. Silk or Messaline. Ail with or without Shiclds 50 cents to $1.25 The C. E. Conover Co. Manufacturers 101 Franklin St., N.Y. Made vs oe makers NAIAD DRESS SHIELDS comicbooks.com