Life, 1923-11-01 · page 25 of 41
Life — November 1, 1923 — page 25: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satirical illustration depicts a fantastical mechanical contraption—appearing to be a Rube Goldberg-style device with a train, tracks, and various mechanical components suspended in space. The caption "ATTENTION, HERR EINSTEIN" references Albert Einstein, whose theory of relativity had recently revolutionized physics and captured public imagination. The joke satirizes the era's enthusiasm for complex mechanical "solutions" and modernist thinking. The accompanying article humorously describes using electric appliances (percolators, gadgets) to solve the "servant problem"—the domestic labor shortage following WWI. The cartoon mocks how contemporary writers and inventors proposed increasingly elaborate technological fixes for everyday problems, while the actual results were often comedic failures (as the breakfast-cooking narrative demonstrates). Einstein's name invokes sophisticated scientific authority being absurdly applied to mundane domestic tasks, suggesting the gap between theoretical innovation and practical reality in early 20th-century American life.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Eat Your Breakfast— and Cook It Too AM very happy to be able to offer a solution of what I have nick- named the, “servant problem.” It is merely to enlist the services of those electric housekeeping aids now so prevalent in the stores. Let us suppose that it is desired to cook and serve a breakfast en famille intime seul, if I may use the phrase. After the vote has been taken whether the eggs shall be fried or poached, and you find you're out of eggs anyway, your first apparatus, the percolator. This looks like a Chinese coffee pot, but the seeming queue is really the electric wire which should be attached to one of the chan- delier light sockets ; simply unscrew the lamp therefrom, let it slip and break in the fern dish, screw the percolator jigger in its place, and there you are. First you press the wall switch, while the Wife begins to slap the sides of the pot. “John,” she says after a moment, “this isn’t getting a bit hot. sure you turned it on? “John,” - she shortly, “maybe the switch is off at the socket.” you set out Are you says again, “Nonsense,” yous even more shortly. “Why should it be off? Here, T'll show you!” And you turn the socket switch with the patronizing air of a magician who has nothing up his sleeves. Immediately the pot gets hot, takes out her I-told-you- so expression and arranges it over her face. But you get your innings. “Funny it doesn’t boil,” you remark caustically after a moment's silence. “How much water did you put in?” asks the Lady of the House. “Water?” you repeat incredulously. “I thought you put the water in! I fixed the blame thing so it works; I should think that was enough.” “Yes, you would,” she says, and the outcome is that you procure and pour two cups of water through the perfor- ated disc under the glass lid. Boiling begins vigorously, and after about five minutes the Little Lady beams and says, “Coffee’s ready!” You switch off the current, and she pours out a cup of steaming hot water. There is a second’s pause, and then you both scream, “Didn't you put the coffee in?” Well, anyway, drinking coffee is bad for one. Making it is certainly bad for two. and she ATTENTION, HERR EINSTEIN strange reason, the fair sex seem to have more success in running these particular mechanical contrivances than men have. If your wife wants to be the electrical engi- neer, let her, and charge it up to current expenses. Remember the words of the poet: Volts for Women! For some A.C. M. The Right Word * HAT averted Carol's decision to end it all?” “Some one praised her bridge game.” horrible Savoir Faire MODEST maid... a gay co- quette A trifling jade... In sun or moon, dull or bri; March or June, dark or light, Fascinating... hesitating... peculating... The most flirtatious damoiselle Is Fashion... a nun... Speculating. .. seldom wearing well! Floyd Meredith. PITAPH house hashes. for a London boarding- keeper: Peace to her comicbooks.com