Life, 1923-07-12 · page 8 of 40
Life — July 12, 1923 — page 8: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**Top Cartoon:** A lawyer cross-examines a witness about whether he overheard an apartment building conversation regarding eavesdropping. The satire targets the legal absurdity of proving someone listened to gossip—a circular logic problem. The joke criticizes overly technical courtroom procedures. **Bottom Cartoon:** Titled "If Noah Had Lived in 1923: The Ark Passes the Three-Mile Limit," this references Prohibition (1920-1933). Animals stampede from the ark toward a "Smoking Room," satirizing how Americans rushed to consume alcohol just outside U.S. territorial waters, where federal law didn't apply. Bootleggers famously operated from ships beyond the three-mile limit. The cartoon mocks both Prohibition's ineffectiveness and Americans' desperation for contraband liquor.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Lawyer (to rattled witness): DID YOU, OR DID YOU NOT, ON THE AFORE- JARY NINETEEN, EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND NINETY-SIX, FELONIOUSLY AND WITH MALICE AFORETHOUGHT LISTEN AT THE KEYHOLE OF THE THIRD FLOOR REAR APARTMENT THEN OCCUPIED AS A RESIDENCE BY THE DEFENDANT IN THIS ACTION ON NINETIETH STREET NEAR PARK AVENUE, AND DID YOU NOT ALSO ON THE FRIDAY FOLLOW- ING THE TUESDAY IN JANUARY BEFORE REFERRED TO IN THE YEAR EIGHT- EEN HUNDRED AND NINETY-SIX COMMUNICATE TO YOUR WIFE THE INFOR- MATION ACQUIRED AND REPEAT THE CONVERSATION OVERHEARD AS A RESULT OF YOUR EAVESDROPPING ON THAT OCCASION WITH THE RESULT THAT THE GOSSIP OF YOUR WIFE GAVE WIDE AND FAR CURRENCY TO THE OVERHEARD CONVERSATION BEFORE MENTIONED? DID YOU OR DID YOU NOT? ANSWER YES OR NO. Witness: HUH? waralles st~w IF NOAH HAD LIVED IN 1923 No Place Like— ss HAT is Home,” I remarked to my wife the other night, “with- out Home Cooking?” Whereupon I dashed out to the corner store, and purchased: 1 Pound of Grandma’s Home- Cured Herring. 2 Loaves of Mother’s Home- Made Bread. 1 Can of Uncle Si’s Home-Laid Eggs. 1 Bottle of My Wife's Hone- Preserved Pickles. 1 Can of Mrs. Maguiness’s Home-Brewed Vegetable Soup. And 4 Pieces of Aunt Pruc’s Pumpkin Pie. “Well,” I sighed, when I had fi ished the refection and was wiping my fingers after a third piece of Aunt Prue’s pastry, “there is no cook ing like Home Cooking!” “Especially,” replied =my — wit brightly, “when you can. get it so cheap at the delicatessen!” Cyril B. Egan. IE Province of Quebec makes a square yard of concrete road out of the profits from every quart oi liquor sold to American bootleggers American highways, however, are still paved with good intentions. ‘THE ARK PASSES THE THREE-MILE LIMIT. comicbooks.com