Life, 1923-11-22 · page 15 of 34
Life — November 22, 1923 — page 15: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two satirical pieces about American Thanksgiving traditions. **"The Strange Festival"** (top) is a fictional account from a supposed extraterrestrial visitor observing Earth in 2001. The joke mocks Americans' inability to explain Thanksgiving's actual purpose—they can only point to it being a "holiday by presidential proclamation." The satire suggests Americans celebrate without understanding why, merely following tradition. The accompanying car illustration shows a practical "clever application of the roller towel principle to a roadmap attachment for the windshield"—a humorous fake invention. **The bottom cartoon** depicts a street scene where a woman publicly criticizes a man, with his response: "If you must criticize me in public, Muriel, you might at least remember that you are a lady—and omit the profanity." The joke relies on the irony of a man lecturing a woman about ladylike behavior while she's apparently cursing at him in the street.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
: LIF E, * The Strange Festival (An extract from the Journal of Marcus Polonius, a noted traveler from the planet Venus, Universe.) iw the year 2001, I visited the Earth for antiquarian --\ research. It was the Ist of November, and I iound the people of the United States, a nation which attained some small measure of civilization as early as the first quarter of the twentieth century, celebrating a unique festival which they called Thanksgiving. Upon that day, all inhabitants stop work, an action of which they are very fond. When I asked them why, replied that the day was declared a holiday by presi- jential proclamation, nor could they give any other answer. Thereupon I visited the President and inquired the reason ior his proclamation. His reply was that it was a »recedent. Going out among the commoners, I questioned, “Why thanksgiving? For what are you thankful?” None could tell me, although some hazarded the guess that they were nankful the price of turkey, a bird on which they dine pon that occasion, had not more than doubled under the emand, The celebration itself consisted of dancing, football ames and overeating. Persisting in my efforts to get at the bottom of the r usage, I finally discovered one ancient “wise van,” as the less simple earthlings are called, who gave me this information. Give a onder liikn, KOuise. We just parsied Barlonsville \ 2 A CLEVER APPLICATION OF THE ROLLER TOWEL PRINCIPLE TO A ROADMAP ATTACHMENT FOR THE WINDSHIELD. FOR TOURING A legend had been passed down in his family through generations, he , to the effect that upon Thanksgiving Day all the citizens were wont to attend church, there to worship and give thanks, That was all he could remember. Curious how quickly the origin of these ancient festivals becomes shrouded in obscurity !... Fairfax Downey. “IF YOU must CRITICIZE ME IN PUBLIC, MURIEL, YOU MIGHT AT LEAST REMEMBER THAT YOU ARE A LADY—AND OMIT THE PROFANITY,” comicbooks.com