Life, 1923-12-06 · page 54 of 84
Life — December 6, 1923 — page 54: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two satirical pieces about early 1920s American life: **"The Cash Christmas Gift"** (left column) mocks husbands who give wives cash instead of thoughtful presents. The satire predicts wives will deposit money into household accounts, lose track of the original gift, and spend it piecemeal throughout the year on small purchases. By the following December, it will be completely depleted. The author coins "Squander Week for Wives Receiving Cash Gifts" to mock this cycle. **The cartoon** (bottom) depicts bootleggers during Prohibition. One criminal boasts about the illegal alcohol business to a well-dressed woman. His response—that profit matters less than "the people you meet"—satirizes how organized crime created social networks and status among criminals and their associates. The caption emphasizes bootlegging's social cachet during Prohibition, when illegal liquor trade was rampant and sometimes glamorized in popular culture.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
52 - LIFE - The Cash Christmas Gift Chansonette "THE cheerful giver who presents his wife with a twenty- AM Pierrette. dollar gold piece or whatever the budget under “Gifts I am Pierrot. and Loans” will bear, should make only one stipulation. She I'm a coquette. is to spend it, of course, for whatever she wants—he didn’t T am a beau. know just what to buy her—but she must spend it. Never I am a song, and a kiss, and a sigh. let her put it in the bank. A smile, Once she gets it deposited, her balance will stretch like and a dream, a horn of plenty in the form of a trombone. Merged with and a sorrow am I. the moneys in the household account, the identity of the . gift will be lost. The wife will give herself little presents We are youth, we are love, we are strong desire. with it all winter. She will exceed its quota three or four We are golden strings on a golden lyre. times during the spring making small purchases for which Tragedy, comedy, pain, and strife— she has saved it up. Knickknacks bought in the fall, the We are mystery masked in the play of life. cheerful giver will be told by a wife delighted with her thrift, have been financed by “what's left of that money I am Pierrette. you gave me last Christmas, dear.” I am Pierrot. On—and not before—midnight of the next December I'm a coquette. 24th, the gift deposited in the bank will be found to have I am a beau. been suddenly and completely exhausted. I am a song, and a kiss, and a sigh, The seven days after Christmas are hereby named as A smile, Squander Week for Wives Receiving Cash Gifts. and a dream, Fairfax Downey. and a sorrow am I. Martha E. Keller. THE best argument for the styles of the present day is the family album. PAID IN FULL “THIS BOOTLEGGING MUST BE A GOOD BUSINESS. YOU'RE PROBABLY MAKING A FORTUNE.” “AW, IT AIN’T DE COIN WHAT COUNTS SO MUCH WIT’ ME, LADY. IT’S DE PEOPLE YOU MEET.” comicbooks.com