Life, 1923-08-02 · page 11 of 40
Life — August 2, 1923 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains a sketch titled "Mrs Pep's Diary" rather than a political cartoon. The illustration shows a social gathering in what appears to be a ship's cabin or formal dining space, with well-dressed figures in formal attire. The diary entries describe mundane social activities: a Hungarian nobleman's visit, attending a theatrical production called "Piracy," and a motor trip to visit "Mistress Thomas." The humor derives from satirizing upper-class social pretensions and boredom—the narrator complains about "continuous week-end feasting" causing digestive problems and mentions a broken mirror and an awkward tennis game. This is social satire targeting affluent leisure activities and their tedious repetition, typical of Life magazine's satirical approach to wealthy society life.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“po YOU LIKE THIS THING, DAUGHTE! “A-YES. 1 DON'T THINK IT’S SUCCESSFUL AS AN EX SIONISTIC EFFORT, BUT VERY INTERESTING AS A PSYCHOLOGICAL sTUDy.” Mes Peps Diav y? Awake betimes, and telling Samuel of the July ge ae 6th cooks I did interview ye: terday, and how: £ one of them, with long earrings and as good English as mine own save for an accent, had professed to he a member of the Hungarian nobility did threaten me with Dr. Brill for not having employed her, forasmuch as aristocracy itself could not be nearly so overbearing and refractory as the nationalized peas- antry we are wont to employ. But when I reminded him that it might have meant a deal of goulash, he became tranquil and fell to reading the publick prints....For- went my breakfast this day, continuous week-end feasting of late having brought me again to the computation of calories, a depressing business. And so to my exercises, in the doing of which I let fly one of my dumbbells, and it crashed through a great mirror; portending that I shall have bad luck for seven years, which God forbid....Kate Mitchell to luncheon, and she did recount how the un- trained waitress which she was forced to take on had greeted her dinner guests as they entered the dining-room whereat he with “Good evening, all!” thereby breaking considerable ice as well as the conventions....Reading this night in a book called “Piracy,” extremely immoral and amusing. Off for Tuxedo, to visit Mistress Thomas, July and not having been on a ferry save in. a 27th motor for some time I was astonished at the smart raiment of the children, even those with mothers looking like Ellis Island being apparently turned out by De Pinna. Later, in the train, two people sitting next me did exchange so much misinformation that I was at some ains not to interrupt and set them right, in especial when one said that Jane Cowl played opposite Glenn Hunter in “Merton of the Movies”....Upon arriving, a short drive around the Park, very beautiful, and then tea, after which we fell to bridge, but could not play out the last rubber because of the dinner hour's imminence. And we found, after the meal, that the butler had thrown away the un- finished score, so my partner and I, one game to the (Continued on page 32) comicbooks.com