Life, 1923-08-23 · page 27 of 36
Life — August 23, 1923 — page 27: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**"The Ballad of Bosh"** is a mock-heroic poem satirizing overwrought Victorian melodrama. It ridicules sentimental literary conventions through absurd plot points: a maiden pining over drowned uncles, a lovelorn bishop, cryptic references to the King and Queen, and culminating in her inexplicable drowning. The deliberately stilted rhymes and overwrought emotional declarations parody romantic ballads popular in period literature. **The taxi cartoon** mocks Prohibition-era drinking culture, showing a well-dressed man offering "cocktails" from his pocket to someone choosing a Ford over a taxi—joking that alcohol needs "shaking up" (mixing). **"The Committee on the Millennium"** satirizes bureaucratic absurdity: a committee solemnly debates regulating "independence" as if it were a commodity requiring production controls and international oversight—mocking League of Nations-style governance and corporate management speak applied to abstract concepts. **"The Brighter Lexicon"** presents simple wordplay jokes about contradictions and misunderstandings. The three comic strips below show slapstick golf humor involving mistaken identities and romantic complications.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The Ballad of Bosh H name was Marian Claribei Lee, And she dwelt with her aged dad, For her uncles all had been drowned at sea; way that her uncles had. henever the south wind swept Twas And the | It made her feel quite bad. The vicar came on his big roan mare, And his face it was drawn and pale, For the Bishop had told him to visit there And to ask if she'd got his mail, For the maiden was young and was passing fair, Though her uncles had gone to Yale. ~ “Oh, tell me, Marian Claribel Lee, Oh, tell me,” the vicar cried, “Why the Bishop pines for the love of thee, While you mourn for the three that died?” But the maiden, never a word said she, he gazed at the sea and sighed. I y that the King rides far to-night,” Cried the vicar in anguished tone, “But the Queen, she weeps in the sad moonlight By the tomb of Sir Guy de Bohn.” “Oh, go,” said the maid, “from out my sight, For my heart it is turned to stone!” Then up rose Marian Claribel Lee, Where she lay on the icy ground, And plunged headlong in surging sea, And undoubtedly was drowned. So her father invited the Queen to tea; But the jewels were never f Newman L she the i | “HERE, DON'T TAKE THAT TAXI. A BOTTLE OF COCKTAILS IN Ans WAIT FOR A FORD. POCKET AND THEY I HAVE MY NEED SHAKING UP.” The Committee on the Millennium ‘HE Committee on the Millennium at its last meeting took up the question of independence, with special reference to stabilization of supply and demand. It was pointed out that many of the most distressing ills were directly at- tributable to too much independence at one time and not enough of it at another, there being apparently no at- tempt to regulate production. A report was read setting forth the need of an International Board or Commission consisting of 13 or 27 members which should conduct an ex- haustive survey of the independence situation throughout the world, with a view to establishing closer relations between the principal centers of pro- duction and consumption. : After declaring its unqualified ap- proval of independence in principle, the Committee on the Millennium ad- journed. The Brighter Lexicon [Ss =RE’S no such word as can't.’ “You said it.” “ald, qd me ean ti (UST 6029 “MY WIFE!” “WELL, I'VE SOAKED SNAKES BEFORE WITH THIS MASHIE.” “HENRY, YOU REMEMBER BETTY BROWN —FANCY MEETING HER HERE.” comicbooks.com