Life, 1923-10-18 · page 25 of 44
Life — October 18, 1923 — page 25: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three distinct satirical pieces from *Life* magazine: **"The Conferees"** is a humorous short story mocking workplace culture and social pretension. Mr. Smugge, a businessman, keeps a visitor waiting for hours in his office while he conducts a "conference." When finally emerging, Smugge is revealed to be ordering liquor from a departing associate—not conducting legitimate business. The joke satirizes how people use the appearance of importance and busyness to inflate their status, and how this behavior spreads: the narrator, now wanting to seem important himself, rushes off claiming *he* has guests arriving, clearly imitating Smugge's pretentious behavior. **"Epigram on a Hack Writer"** mocks low-quality writers who rely on copying and pasting existing material rather than original composition—they're so dependent on scissors and paste that without these tools, they cannot function. **The bottom cartoon** references "bobbing" (cutting hair short), a controversial 1920s women's fashion trend. The joke suggests that women who adopted this style inflicted "the unkindest cut of all" upon themselves.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
LIFE The Conferees 116 P.M. “Mr. Smugge is in conference,” said the stenog- rapher. “If you would care to take a chair.” I would. 2:31 P.M. “Still in conference,” she informed me. “But he should be free any minute now.” 2:49 Pp. M. She smiled sympathetically, “I’m certain he can’t be much longer,” was her encouraging assurance. 3:01 Pp. M. The door marked MR. SMUGGE—PRIVATE opened and a man who answered readily to any of several names issued forth. Mr. Smugge escorted him to the threshold and there held him for a few parting words. “To-morrow morning without fail,” he admonished the departing one. “Don’t slip up on me. I shall have guests for dinner to-morrow evening. And perhaps you had better make it three cases of Scotch instead of two. Yes, three would be better.” 3:02 Pp. M. “Mr. Smugge is free now, if you care to go in,” said the stenographer. “Sorry, can’t wait,” I replied as I dashed for the outer door. “I’ve got to catch that fellow. My guests are coming to-night.” SETTING-UP EXERCISES Epigram on a Hack Writer OU may deprive him of his pen and in! And still he’ll write with fluency and But he will totter on starvation’s brink If you abstract his scissors and his paste! ANY a girl now realizes that bobbing the hair was the most unkindest cut of all. “I THOUGHT YOU SAID IT WAS ONLY TEN MID “IT Is, IF YOU RU comicbooks.com