Life, 1924-09-25 · page 25 of 37
Life — September 25, 1924 — page 25: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains several satirical pieces typical of *Life* magazine's humor: **"The Business Primer"** humorously describes office archetypes in verse—the gatekeeping office boy and the indispensable stenographer (secretary). The stenographer section notes she arrives late but stays until work is done and is "deadly with the mail," a play on her typing skills. **"Miss Peps Diary"** is a gossipy society column mocking upper-class conversations. A notable reference: "Undesirable Aliens" lists historical figures (Cleopatra, Shakespeare, etc.) as apparently unwelcome, then notes "Henry the Eighth would be perfectly acceptable"—likely satirizing contemporary anti-immigrant sentiment by suggesting even famous figures wouldn't pass current standards. **"The Perfect Football Coach"** satirizes college athletics by describing a coach who manipulates perception: taking credit for wins while deflecting blame for losses, and orchestrating schedules to maximize his reputation. The cartoon below the diary shows an adult and children at an art exhibit; children complain there are "no jokes under any of 'em'"—mocking both modern art pretension and children's literal-minded humor expectations.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The Business Primer THE OF-FICE BOY H, look you at the Of-fice Boy, He noth-ing knows of carth-ly joy; All call-ers, of what-ev-er sizes, He most se-vere-ly cat-e-chis-es : Your name, your er-rand, eke your age ‘Twill do no good for you to rage), And if to see the Boss you ho; His on-ly an-swer is a “Nope! THE STE-NOG-RA-PHER I here would call your no-tice, please, Un-to the Pound-er of the Keys; Ste-nog-ra-pher”—don't ever flout one, No of-fice is com-plete with-out one. Al-though she comes in late, it's true, She'll stay un-til she’s near-ly through; Her spe may a pun a-vail?— Is al-ways dead-ly with the mail. A.C. M, Azoy, Ir. CNecs Reps Diaryr Lay late, pondering how much there is in the world of which I have but faint, definite conceptions, not being abso- certain, for instance, what a Nordic is, except that the name does omehow connote Gertrude Atherton to me.... Chisholm, home from Europe, did come for luncheon, bring- me a fine tooled portfolio in incentive to such a laggard in cor- espondence I, but rich gifts wax »oor when givers prove unkind, and vhen she asked me if my hair was not getting darker, I could have hurled the bibelot at ber then and there, But ies: lately ing as “AND HOW ARE YOU LITTLE GENTLEMEN ENJOYING THE PICTURE EXHIBIT?’ “ROTTEN! THERE AIN’T NO JOKES UNDER ANY OF ’EM!” ye gutD he Pay NOW READY CAMPAIGN ORATORS WILL PLEASE WRITE FOR PARTICULARS I merely told her to take her teeth out of me, and we fell a-talking of the psychology of steamer presents, L. con- fiding that she had liefer find a dozen cartons of potato chips in her cabin than all the pink roses and fancy fruit in the world. That will suit your beau C. Anson, I said, C. being famed for his parsimony. Poor C.! He's half Scotch, you know, quoth Lila. He is all Scotch by this time, I responded. He has made up the other half by absorp- tion, But L, did not think much of the jest. September UP be- times, 24th show- ing Sam the fine new purse for which I laid out sixty-five dollars, defending its cost on the ground that the needlepoint square could be used for a bag on some (Continued on page 29) Undesirable Aliens (If one may judge by the reception recently accorded to Luis Angel Firpo.) LEOPATRA. Julius Cesar. Benvenuto Cellini George Sand. Will Shakespeare. Mary Stuart. Lord Nelson. But—Henry the perfectly acceptable. The Perfect Football Coach E selects the players while letting the campus celebrities imagine they have a hand in it. He plans the strat- egy, at the same time making the in- fluential alumni believe they are doing it. He arranges such a schedule that if his team wins it will appear to have accomplished the impossible, while if it loses the critics will say none could have won. He is the perfect coach. Too bad no college has discovered him. Eighth would be 'HE noblest work of fiction—an hon- est politician. comicbooks.com