Life, 1924-07-03 · page 13 of 36
Life — July 3, 1924 — page 13: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satirical piece mocks Mr. Lemuel Timkins, who apparently received a passport despite being considered an embarrassment to American diplomacy. The cartoon illustrates a scene where State Department officials quiz Timkins on his behavior abroad, trying to prevent diplomatic disasters. The humor derives from Timkins being such an uncultured, tactless American that officials must extract promises he won't offend foreign dignitaries—he must agree not to rampage through Berlin, refrain from loudly praising American military victory in restaurants, and avoid insulting French plumbing. The satire targets two things: American anxiety about unsophisticated citizens representing the nation abroad, and the stereotype of the "ugly American" whose behavior embarrasses his country internationally. The cartoon suggests some Americans lack the cultural refinement expected of international travelers.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Caller: 18 YOUR DOLLY WELL BENAVED? Barbara: Mr. Timkins Gets a Passport OW that the Lemuel Timkinses are safely at sea, it is ! beginning to dawn on a few of us among their frankly relieved neighbors that their passport was issued on the basis of some extraordinarily irrelevant information. The questions put to Mr. Timkins by the inquisitive State De- partment had been framed in wartime. In 1924 they do seem a trifle beside the mark. And, if anything, lower, Thus Sceretary Hughes, or one of his underlings, was at some pains to learn that Timkins had been born in Aspen, Col., and that his father before him had come admirably and reliably into the world at Clinton, N. Y. The same interested statesman also treasures among his files such fascinating facts as that Timkins has a shallow forchead, hazel eyes, a receding chin (Timkins resents this), and an écru face. Indeed, the sentimental old State Department keeps for its very own a photograph of Timkins which the latter is rather bitter about, as it faintly suggests a family snapshot of Czolgosz. The record also shows that it is Timkins’ intention to give the Vatican the once-over, to purchase some silk at Lyons, and stoutly (though by means unspeci- fied) to defend the Constitution of the United States. But, oddly enough, no one thought to ask Timkins how he intended to behave himself when loose on Unter den Linden or the Boulevard des Capucines. If, as one is sometimes constrained to doubt, it is really the desire of our Government to promote good will among the peoples of the earth, it might not be a bad idea so to rewrite the passport regulations as to include the following questions : 1. Do you solemnly promise to make Miss Maybelle Timkins relinquish her custom of romping prettily (with ukulele) on the promenade deck after 1 a.M.? WELL, OF COURSE, SHE'S ONE OF THESE MODERN DOLLS. " 2. Do you promise that your probable difficulty in getting ice water in France shall not lead you to audible comment on the decay of civilization in that coun- try? 3. Do you agree to persuade Mrs. Timkins, even when incited by an especially neat figure and ankle, to keep private her real opinion about the morals of all Frenchwomen? 4. Do you solemnly promise, when sharing a railroad compart- ment with six Frenchmen who apparently want the window closed, not to insist more than once that it be opened wide? 5. Do you further agree that, if defeated in this one insistence, you will not make any of the fol- lowing remarks to Mrs. T.: (a) “And they don’t have decent plumbing in their houses either.” (6) “I'm told they don't know how to take care of their teeth.” (¢) “No wonder the Germans could lick ‘em.” (d) “The damned frogs.” 6. Do you agree that, when surrounded in Berlin by gentlefolk who know not whence their next pair of shoes cometh, it would be rather better for you not to rejoice too raucously about the old family jewels you bought dirt-cheap from an impoverished university professor? 7. Will you promise, when dining in a London restau- rant, to forgo the old Timkins custom of getting a snoot- ful, and, when thus illuminated, of proclaiming loudly that America won the war? Yet Mr. Hughes's reticence on these crucial points may, after all, have resulted from an understandable human im- pulse to avoid saying anything that might prevent the Timkinses from Icaving the country, Once they pass our frontiers, there is always the bright chance that some one may assault them and that they will die outside. Alexander Woollcott. Amendments OTHING is certain but death, taxes, insanity pleas, wage disputes, dry raids, stock manipulation, erroneous weather forecasts, Will H. Hays, and—the Republican Party is the party of peace, progress and prosperity. In Spite of Handicaps “LJONESTY is the best policy, my son.” “But they couldn't keep you down, could they, dad?” D®°%s any one still refer to the Fourth of July as Inde- pendence Day? comicbooks.com