Life — June 28, 1923 — page 7: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "The Ride of Henri Ledoux" This is a humorous poem with illustrations about a French-Canadian driver named Henri Ledoux who recklessly drives a Ford automobile at high speed from Lake St. Pierre to Montreal and beyond, heading toward New York. The satire mocks: - **Henri's reckless driving** — he refuses to stop despite passengers' pleas, driving through the night at dangerous speeds - **Early automobile culture** — presenting the Ford as a wild, uncontrollable machine - **French-Canadian dialect humor** — the poem uses exaggerated patois ("bootleggaire," "haw-haw") - **Prohibition-era bootlegging** — Henri is apparently transporting alcohol The accompanying illustrations show the Ford speeding chaotically. The humor derives from treating automobile driving as a dangerous, almost supernatural feat, while the dialect and bootlegging references ground it in contemporary 1920s North American concerns.