Life, 1924-09-11 · page 10 of 36
Life — September 11, 1924 — page 10: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three separate humorous pieces typical of *Life* magazine's satirical style: 1. **"Bedtime Story: All Modern Improvements"** - A satirical anecdote about two competing department store owners (Snedkins and Bosby) engaged in a race-to-the-bottom price war, undercutting each other's markups. The moral mocks excessive business competition and obsession with undercutting rivals. 2. **"The Post-Graduate Wife"** - Satire of a college football coach's wife who manages her husband's career through strategic absence from games and absence-notices to his employer—mocking manipulative spousal behavior and college football culture. 3. **"Labor-Saving"** - A brief joke contrasting "playhouse" versus "apartment" living arrangements, implying domestic labor differences. The cartoons and jokes reflect 1920s-era anxieties about business competition, changing gender roles, and modern domestic life.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
- LIFE - Bedtime Story All Modern Improvements NCE there were two business men, Mr. Snedkins and Mr. Bosby. Mr. Snedkins had a department store on the southwest corner of the inter- section of Main and Broad Streets, installed the most luxurious rest-rooms for the women shoppers. Mr. Bosby, on the other hand, couldn't be made to sce that times had changed, and that people weren't what and Mr. Bosby had a department store on the northwest corner of the inter- section of Main and Broad Streets, and everybody said those were the two hest locations in the city, with nothing to choose between them. But if there was nothing to choose between the locations, there was a lot to choose between the two men. Mr. Snedkins was up-to-the-minute, on-! toes, always open to suggestion, whereas Mr. Bosby was a in-the-mud, an old-fashioned, self-opinionated old they had been when he first started out in business, and the only thing he cared about was to be sure that when Mr. Snedkins sold merchandise for $5.00 his own was marked $4.98, and that when Mr. Snedkins’ came down to $4.98 his own went down to $4.95, But when he bought out Mr. Sned- kins, he did keep the rest-rooms. He found that if the women had a place to rest a little while, they'd recover sufficiently for another attack on his bargain counters. Moral: Look out for the pennies and the business will look out for itself. B. B. sticl grouch. Mr. Snedkins had his ear ground and when Service began to come in he rode the top wave. He wrote little sermons for his newspaper ads.; he put in.an adjustment bureau whose motto was “The Customer Is Always Right"; he made deliveries within three hours of purchase, and he to the Labor-Saving ETTY: Let’s play house. Suste: No; let's play apartment. It's less work. oe, PZ, SBEZ = = “JUMP INTO THE RIVER, BILL, HERE COMES A TRAIN!” “1 CAN'T swim!" “YOU WON'T NEED TO—IT'S ONLY The Post-Graduate Wife HE encourages her husband to go back to college every fall and tell the coach how to run the football team. He always comes back a quieter and more thoughtful man. She does not go to the big games with him and does not expect him back the same day. She watches the scores in the papers. If her husband's college wins she calls up his office to say he will not he down for two or three days. If his team loses she notifies the office that he will not be at work for a week. McC. H KNEE-DEEP.” “ HAT is the difference between a toupee and a tepee? “One is a wig worn and the other is a wigwam.” Judge: tHixty pays! Incorrigibl HATIL SEPTEMBER, Y’ HONOR. comicbooks.com