Life, 1924-07-03 · page 11 of 36
Life — July 3, 1924 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page from *Life* magazine covers a Cross-Word Puzzle convention, a major cultural phenomenon of the 1920s. The top photograph shows two men in formal wear photographed via telephone, illustrating the novelty of transmitting images long-distance. The main cartoons mock convention attendees. "Those Convention Angles" discusses different journalist perspectives covering the event. "The Convention from the Children's Angle" satirizes children attending—showing their innocent observations about hotel amenities (a toy store, cereal service) that adults might overlook. The "Window Dresser at Home" cartoon illustrates how convention enthusiasm extends to domestic life, with someone arranging their home like a window display, reflecting the period's consumerist fervor surrounding crossword puzzles. The satire captures 1920s American culture's obsession with crossword puzzles and conventions as mass-participation spectacles.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
~ LIFE, - Sidelights on the Convention from the Cross-word Puzzle Point of View By Roger M. Marchessa (Special Correspondence.) O*E of the busiest people at the convention is the lady who presides over the Information Booth at the Cross- Word Puzzle Headquarters, little Mrs. Franklin Rancer, of Massachusetts, In one hour she had 358 inquiries as to the five-letter word meaning “albumin from the castor oil bean.” eee In the hotel corridors the cross-word puzzling is very light, owing to the quality of the pencils sold at the hotel news-stands, The lead is very hard, making it difficult to mark letters in the squares without tearing the paper, and as a result, most of the puzzle work is done in the delegates’ rooms behind closed doors. eee Tue delegates are somewhat confused at the definition issued by the Puzzle Board for a six-letter horizontal space meaning “the instep bone of a South American crustacean.” THIS PHOTOGRAPIE WAS SENT BY TELEPHONE DIRECT FROM THE CON- “That is ridiculous,” said H. J. Leest, delegate from Idaho, Vextion To Live. THE TELEPHONE CONNECTION WAS NOT A GOOD " " & seit hit UNE AND $0 WE ARE NOT QUITE SURE WHO THE TWO MEN ang, svt as and Several were heard to agree with him. WE UNDERSTOOD IT THEY ARE THOMAS J, NEELEY OR WHEELEY AND NENRY PETERS, DIETERS OR TEETERS, DELEGATES FROM EITHER MAINE Locksmiths at the Convention On SPAIN, THE GENERAL DIMNESS OF THE PHOTOGRAPH 18 DUE TO THE PACT THAT SOMEONE HAD M18 RECEIVER DOWN, LISTENING IN TO CATCH By Theodore Magnis Malus oF ves Treen: (Special Correspondence.) . ‘“ 7 SEARCH among the delegates has revealed no lock- Those Convention “Angles smiths at all among those attending the giant con- The big newspapers of the country, having assigned ference, especially among the women. more aspiring reporters to cover the conventions Robert C. Beuchley, than there were delegates, are confronted with a surplus of signed articles dealing with the various “angles” of the meetings; articles by women re- porters dealing with the “women’s angle,” by sport- tng writers covering the “sporting angle,” and by a corps of special writers covering all special angles. Usually one man was left in the newspaper office while the rest of the staff were out at the conven- tion hunting angles. We reproduce herewith some of the over-set which is being held for use during the conventions of 1928. It will be just as good then—even better, The Convention from the Children’s Angle By Roscoe Martle, Jr. : (Special Correspondence.) A LOT of children seem to be here at the convention, aside from those who are delegates. We have a dandy time, running around. A man gave us a big bag of cherries and you ought to have seen us eating them. eee Tere is quite a big toy store on one of the corners here and one may see children at all hours of the day looking in the windows. Little Norman Westerlink, of Delaware, was seized with hysterical crying owing to fright when a mechanical clown popped up out of a toy. yvell in the window, but most of the children knew how to take: it and simply laughed. eee = A tor of the children here do not like the way supper is handled in the big hotels. The cereal comes on with the milk already on it and you have to put the sugar on afterward. Those who like to put the sugar on first and then cover it with milk refuse to eat it the new way. THE WINDOW DRESSER AT HOME comicbooks.com