Life, 1923-09-27 · page 23 of 36
Life — September 27, 1923 — page 23: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This 1925 *Life* magazine page satirizes wealthy Americans' obsession with consumer goods during the prosperous 1920s. **The main cartoon** depicts society women casually sewing fabric parts onto a broken-down automobile—treating expensive car components (radiator, mudguards, tires) as if they were clothing. The joke: these wealthy people are so fixated on material consumption that they absurdly conflate fashion with automobiles, using textile terminology ("crépe de chine," "georgette") for car parts. Their casual chat about competing luxury vehicles (Rolls-Royce, various "Sixes") while literally stitching their car together mocks both conspicuous consumption and the era's rapid automobile adoption. **Secondary jokes** include a child asking for a cigarette while playing house—mocking 1920s parenting and smoking normalization. **"Crumbs of Comfort"** collects quotes from famous figures (Edison, Ford, de Valera) offering vague wisdom. The page overall satirizes Jazz Age materialism and the car culture transforming American society in the post-WWI economic boom.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Why Not? prominent Detroit capitalist may cotton compounds in manufac- 1g his cars—News Item.) is a crisp autumn day in our nation’s capital, A. D. 1925. A onoid Four has just sideswiped a at the corner of Pennsylvania nue and 16th Street, N. W. Three its erstwhile occupants are seated a bench befote the White House. s. Anne Ray de Aytor is darning wole in a tire of steel gray tweed ch she holds in her lap. Mrs. nkcase is threading a new cylin- head, while Mrs. Henry, plying needle industriously, is sewing a large rent in the radiator. Her sband is trimming the mudguards h a pair of shears. * * * Mins. Henry: Heavens, that bump nost took the crease out of our issis—and I just had it pressed s morning. Henry, my dear, this Alice Blue doesn’t match r crépe de chine radiator very well t it’s the best I can do. Mr. Henry: Do the best you can, ce of Eees umes G. Whiss, Second Vice-Presi- ent of the Punkville Plow Works addressing the annual convention of he State Credit Men's Association) : LOUNDERING IN THE VAST UD HARTED SEA OF DOUBT—MENACED BY HE RESTLESS WAVES AND CROSS CUR- ENTS OF UNTRIED POLITICAL THEORIES -I, FOR ONE, GENTLEMEN—— Voice: SWIM FOR THE SHORE, JIM! She CHORCH THAT GEORGE WASHINGTON, SLEST IN These plush guards stood up very well. Mrs. ANNE R. ve A. (sewing a gasket on a woolen carburetor): My dear, you should see our new Par- kerhouse-Rolls. Thirty-six-inch crépe meteor cylinders, and the dearest little georgette radiator. Mrs. CRANK : That reminds me, Anne, our Redingote Six has the loveliest woolen muffler — Henry! don't rip out the lining of that mud- guard. Let me baste it up. Mr. H.: I’m sorry to bother you ladies, but I'm afraid one of you will have to darn this cord tire. I bought it only a month ago and it's begin- ning to unravel already. Mrs. H.: Henry, I do wish you would get a Georgette Six. These Cottonoid Fours are so shabby. Mr. H.: I would, my dear, but I've given everything I had to the Red Cross. You know they are busy knit- ting little red runabouts for the Mo- torless Patagonians this fall. But what would you say to a hand-em- broidered Silken S Mrs. H.: You darling! Mr. H.: All ready, ladies. Jump in and we'll be off. Don’t mind if I hurry, do you? I want to get this purple wool to Grandma. She insists on knitting Willie a cloverleaf road- ster for Christmas. my love. Cioups or Dust. GON: Crumbs of Comfort AMON DE VALERA, in Clink I had rather be on the outside looking in, than on the inside looking out. Edison, in Seclu- use a man happens to Thomas Alva sion—Just be invent a door better than any door think he is its mousetrap, even if he has retreated into the middle of a forest. I detest publicity. invented, the world seems to Henry Ford, in the Dearborn In- dependent—I want to see every Amer- and child with a moderately priced automobile in his We have no ican man, woman or her portable garage. presidential aspirations. J.J. and Lee Shubert, in the Dial— What this world present, probably more than anything else, is a little less vulgarity. needs at The Prince of Wales, in Alberta— I am at a loss to should take active interest in my inconsequential comings and goings. understand why people such an Secretary Wall Street Journal—Europe seems to be in a particularly unsettled state. H.W. H. Mellon, in the ILLIE: Mary, let's play mamma and papa. Mary: All right. Got a cigarette? comicbooks.com