Life, 1923-07-12 · page 28 of 40
Life — July 12, 1923 — page 28: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**"The Threat" Cartoon:** Shows a woman at a beach calling to a boy ("Willie") in the water, threatening to fetch him herself if he doesn't come immediately. This depicts a common domestic scenario—parental discipline and child obedience—rendered as gentle social satire about authority and childhood independence. **"Books That We Are Awaiting":** This satirical essay mocks prominent public figures by imagining absurd books they might write. It references real contemporaries like Rev. Percy Stickney Grant, Mrs. Asquith (wife of British PM), Theodore Dreiser, Upton Sinclair, and W.J. Bryan. The jokes target their known controversies or quirks—Dreiser's writing style, Sinclair's radical views, Bryan's dated agrarianism. The piece implies these figures are so self-absorbed or problematic that their memoirs would be unintentionally ridiculous. **"Summer Resort" Section:** Lists the supposed attractions of modern resorts, sarcastically including "amply supplied bootleggers" during Prohibition—the joke being that illegal liquor was essential to resort life despite legal prohibition. The page demonstrates Life's characteristic blend of visual and literary satire targeting contemporary public figures and social hypocrisy.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE THREAT “WILL-IE! COME HERE THIS INSTANT! DO YOU WANT ME TO GO OUT AFTER YOU?” Books That We Are Awaiting HE early summer lists of the publishers contained the titles of many books of many kinds promising entertain- ment and instruction for all sorts and conditions of readers. But these lists would have been even more attrac- tive had they announced the early appearance of certain other volumes by persons who are just now more or less prominent in the public eye. For example, we can not but regret that there is no immediate probability of the pub- lication of “My Search for the Spot-light” by the Rev. Dr. Percy Stickney Grant, or of “Mind in the Half-Baking” by Professor James Harvey Robinson. An equally cordial reception would await “A Nude De- scending a Staircase: a Cubist Autobiography” by Mrs. Asquith and “The Indelicacies of the Season” by Mr. James Branch Cabell. There would also be a keen curios- ity to peruse “A Plea for Progressive Polyandry,” by an anonymous authoress who has recently announced her third engagement to be married, her first and second husbands being still alive. Nor could any serious student of our native tongue resist the appeal of “Thoughts on Style” by Mr. Theodore Dreiser and of “What Education Has Done to Me” by Mr. Upton Sinclair. It may be doubted, how- ever, whether any of the volumes in this premature cata- logue would be more startlingly unexpected than “The New Paradise Regained, or Russia as the Garden of Eden,” by the Rev. John Haynes Holmes. Now that the Commoner has expired, that is to say, now that this paper is going to be even less common than it had been of late, the many millions who hang on the words of Mr. W. J. Bryan would rush to purchase his answer to the timely question, “Is My Servant a Monkey ?” Alas, the date of publication of every one of these books is far in the future, and we may have to wait for them indefinitely—it may be for years and it may be forever. We must poss If the authors of these books have not yet written them, all we can do is to express our ardent hope that they will get to work as speedily as may be. Hope deferred maketh the heart sick. A, Z. ‘ss our souls in patience. The Beauties of a Modern Summer Resort 'HE superb taxi service. The punctual delivery of the city papers. The well-equipped shops. The highly organized traffic system. The up-to-date moving-picture theatres. The amply supplied bootleggers. The comfortable stock-broker’s office. The fashionable roadhouse. The efficient telephone service (to town), The proximity to town. QUEER old world! The shrinking that charms in the violet, maddens in the flannel. comicbooks.com