Life, 1923-07-12 · page 11 of 40
Life — July 12, 1923 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page from *Life* magazine presents a satirical domestic diary entry and two illustrations mocking early-20th-century upper-class social conventions. **The Diary Section** humorously chronicles a woman's frustrations with shopping for wedding gifts and theater outings—typical leisure activities of wealthy society women. **Top Illustration** satirizes theater etiquette, specifically the impractical problem of hat and coat storage during performances. The solution shown—hanging garments under theater seats—lampoons both the fashion of large women's hats that obstructed views and the inadequate facilities at theaters. **Bottom Illustration** depicts a popular novelist struggling to find a "vulgar synonym for birth" in his work. This satirizes Victorian-era prudishness about discussing bodily functions, even in literature—a common target of *Life*'s social satire during the early 1900s.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
CMs Reps Diary July An invitation by the first post to the mar- us 5th riage of William Nashe, and Sam, in high ar glee that his crony hath been caught at last, ile did remind-me that we must do better by him than a mustard pot, nor will he ever leave off teasing me for py, having once sent such a wedding gift. And he did recall ve how Billy, to rid himself of one undesirable attach- ht. ment, told the young woman that he had gone into the all E secret service and could write and receive no letters nor ny talk upon the telephone, and thereafter, whenever he would drive through Flushing, where she dwelled, he Dor would pause at the outset of every block and scan it vas carefully before proceeding....To shop this day with er, ur cousin Amy, always a tedious business, for she hath vas in idea that the merchants are out to swindle her, and requires more time to purchase a bed jacket than it would take me to assemble a trousseau. To a tearoom for lunch- led ¢ con, but I had liefer gone with naught and been spared Oth looking at the china and decorations. The Lord deliver for me from quaintness in any manner soever! July Sam off for Buffalo on an early train, and uld 6th Amy to spend the day with our Aunt Caroline, ANOTHER THEATRE PROBLEM SOLVED ow so forth early with Marge Boothby to search NO MORE CHECKING YOUR HAT AND COAT AT THE DOOR. 7 q for an apartment, and we much amused at the vuTILIzE THE WA: ‘ACE UNDER TH ‘S FOR INDIVID- ing 4 (Continued on page 36) UAL HAT AND COAT CELLARETTES. ind aid ere to iG \ = Ze IF ery i r4\. Ze [el een : | nN it Seal f |x) tt eI ui ih Wie | ind Popular Novelist (discussing his forthcoming werk): FRANKLY, I'M UP AGAINST IT. I SIMPLY CANNOT FIND A VULGAR SYNONYM FOR BIRTH. comicbooks.com