Life, 1924-08-28 · page 26 of 36
Life — August 28, 1924 — page 26: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three separate satirical pieces from *Life* magazine: **"Night Brings Truth"** mocks romantic pretension. A man poetically interprets urban sights (moonlight, a lake, fairies) while his companion pragmatically debunks each fantasy (it's electric lights, malarial mist, a policeman's flashlight, Goldman's band). The satire targets flowery sentimentality versus practical reality—his romantic illusions collapse when she speaks plainly. **"An Impromptu Tale"** ridicules advertising saturation. The narrator reveals he composed a domestic story entirely from streetcar advertisements, arranged in order. It's commentary on how pervasive commercial messaging has become—even casual narratives are now advertising copy. **"Filing System"** is a domestic humor cartoon. A wife has lost her bathing suit so thoroughly she can't find it until next summer, suggesting chaotic household organization (or perhaps marital exasperation with domestic disorder). All three pieces reflect early 20th-century anxieties: urbanization obscuring nature, commercialism invading daily life, and domestic friction.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
24 Night Brings Truth (Two stand on a balcony. His arm is linked under hers. Their hands meet, Hers are cool.) HE: See, darling, the moon is ris- ing, there, behind the Mall. What a delicate tracery the branches weave across her face. Sue: It is the electric light on the corner of Eighty-first Street. He: A perfect night...even the birds are awake to hymn its beauty. Sue: It's that light again. How can they sleep with that shining in their face: He: Sce how the lake is veiled in mist. It is a smoke-blue scarf veiling the face of a dark woman. Sue: It is very malarial. He: Look, dear, look! There is a will-o'-the-wisp, a goblin with a fairy lamp. How fitfully he darts about. He has lost something. Sue: It is the policeman with his flashlight. They have had a lot of trouble in the Park lately. He: Hark! the fairies are singing -it is the dryads’ choir which only wakes when the city has gone to sleep. Sne: It is Goldman's band; they are playing “Limehouse Blues.” He: Now the satyrs and fauns join in: I hear their hoarse bellowing. 1e: The taxicabs are calling to their mates. “COME OUT OF IT, WI JIM MIE; GET THEM STOCKIN’S UP AN’ LOOK SNAPPY, WE'RE ON FIFTH AVENOO Now.” (He looks at her, surprised at the figurative turn in her speech, then gently draws her inside the window.) He: You are beautiful. Sue: It is dark; you. see me. ‘ou cannot Quick Curtain. George S. Chappell. An Impromptu Tale NCE upon a time a man, his wife and their little girl went ow into the country in a cheap automobile They parked their car, and then took a bath with splendid soap, after which they devoured some fine country For dessert they had mint es and chewing gum. “Now,” said Mama, “let us drop in our shoes some of this powder whi is good for tired feet.” “Fine,” Papa agreed: “and then we'll rub everything with this clean ing fluid.” At a store they bought some fur niture and some washing powder. “I mustn't forget to take out son health insurance,” said Papa. “And you need a semi-soft colla too,” Mama reminded him. Does this sound foolish? it does. It is. It is a story made up from the card advertisements in a street car, in th order in which they were displayed You have to do something when th line is blocked. Al, E Probab! Filing System USBAND: What's the dea Wire: I'm wondering where [ can put my bathing suit so that I can find it next summer. matter “WHAT BEAUTIFUL RED LIPS ALL THE LADIES HAVE, GRANDMA!” comicbooks.com