Life, 1924-03-27 · page 6 of 36
Life — March 27, 1924 — page 6: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a humorous illustrated feature about hens, not political satire. The page uses comic panels to anthropomorphize chickens, attributing human characteristics and behaviors to them. The jokes play on Victorian-era gender stereotypes applied to hens: they're depicted as domesticated, productive creatures concerned with appearance (combs, feathers), gossip, and household duties. References like "Mrs. Hen" and comparisons to women's fashion ("powder puff," "looking glass," rouge) suggest the satire mocks both excessive femininity and women's domestic roles. The humor relies on observational comedy about actual hen behavior—laying eggs, scratching for food, dust-bathing—reframed through contemporary social commentary. The feature is light, domestic entertainment rather than hard political commentary, typical of *Life* magazine's general-audience humor content.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
- LIFE - [Our feathered friend) the \HEN AW : v7 £ yf bee (cow, ae Ne The HEN’s a bird it pays to raise and, like the | Specimen of HEN mone woman, pays —she brings more coin than steel or chewing I AEN swallowing an angle worm. (Note angles ++) 2h 7 um. She’s wild or worms and seeds and such, likes table [HEN just after Serieg two crumbs, leavings very much and gobbles every little scrap and crumb. Hand holding a pan containing thirty-four oz | of chicken (os feed. Jos _ é Just one modest frock of feathers serves the chicken in all weathers _OUR FEATHERED FRIEND, THE HEN (there she difters trom some chickens we could mention), while her dapper spouse, the rooster, Why_ SS chickens } oo advertising man and booster, wears the fancy duds and gets the most attention. Ground plan of a] bachelor HEN Alarm clock service by her spouse arouses all the chicken house — ‘Rooster all set for | 3 good crow. Note | wy | his cock-a-doodle- doo'’s an awfol row. He tells the hens in accents rough to quit the A HEN of pre-Civil] War riod. roost and do their stuff. He doesn't work but he can tell them how. [Pin feathers of a stricken chicken enlarged. RW Ip HEN. about to go work. "SS $Y While on the nest she tarries, laying nice, white cackleberries, hubby spends the time with all the other girls. He just Flirts to Souvenirs of a conditic common amongst chickens gizzard gravel. r beat the dickens —he'’s a bearcat with the chickens— and he doesn’t (Decrepit pullet wich] ‘one foot off the ground ww have to bribe the dames with pearls. No powder puff nor looking glass [Closeup of a hardboiled| — = J helps Mrs. Hen preserve her class; no rouge nor lip stick clutters up her home. She has one little weakness, though —I never knew a hen to go Nice mug of egg no, to work—or bed— or gadding — shy her comb. Chicken fur is used End view of e before scram) ing: | Z | for pillows and for beds that rise in billows and. for putting nap on undersuits of tar. [Edgewise view of a HEN feather about this long, | Rarer than a welcome earthquake is a pullet with |Wheat, beloved | | by all chickens.| a toothache —wherein chickens dont know how well off they are! | South-bound chicken] watching Sun rise ~ XS VL > res ares comicbooks.com