Life, 1924-04-10 · page 14 of 36
Life — April 10, 1924 — page 14: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a humorous illustrated feature about a fly's characteristics and behavior, not political satire. The page uses small comic panels and text to humorously anthropomorphize a housefly, describing its anatomy ("eleven million tiny eyes," "elephantine trunk" mouth) and habits (eating ice cream, washing, mixing with "every race"). The satire is gentle and biological rather than political—it's primarily observational humor about fly behavior presented through exaggerated, whimsical descriptions. The feature appears designed to entertain readers by making the common housefly seem simultaneously alien and relatable through detailed, absurdist commentary on its eating, navigation, and domestic presence.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Ties just love people— ef all ages. bw fa hare The FLY is small and numerous. His heart is lighe and humereus. heart He has eleven million tiny eyes. route taken by 3 well fly! [flying first in one d: 1 Land then in anothe He wears long whiskers down his back that range from brown to dirty black. leet eS cee He eats a lot cf fodder, for his R TNE the whisk, or long-haired fly. (probably pretty rare) His shins have whiskers on them, too, but goodness knows what good they do; they're awful messy when he eats molasses. His feet have got adhesive soles for navigating sugar bowls ond window pancs and walls and leoking- Slasses. S\N 450 VUTSRQP chassis of a f | from below. His meuth’s an clephantine trunk for which his chin is countersunk, he pokes it ovt and saturates his chow His only kind cf feed is drink (his spit just moistens it, I think), his whole menu is soup, from cake te cow. LY He has a small, poetic nose but it gets every smell that goes. He has twe tissue paper wings that make the music when he sings. He's strong for sweets or stulf that’s on the blink. He's affectionate and merry. m of fly trap popular) He's shifty on his feet —1 should say, off His peepers see things ore and aft, ~ you can't waylay him from abaft. An ambitious parent, very; he multiplies best when the weather's het. symbols used, lin computing] He hates the cold it makes him sneeze and cough, | section of fly screen after an attack by ¢ flies and fe peddle. | materials for making | hes simple fly trap. "| He mixes well with every race but Oh! hew he dees hate that short werd, “SWAT”! = He trots his tootsies with a jerk. a daily swim in Fre expensive milk kee y free of spavia and baldness. In Art he sticks to stipple work, except when he has Jately stepped in ink. comicbooks.com