Life, 1924-10-16 · page 8 of 36
Life — October 16, 1924 — page 8: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes the American antique-collecting craze of the 1920s-30s. The main article humorously documents how Aunt Etta gifted the narrator fifteen dollars for their birthday, intending it for practical use. Instead, the narrator spent it on antiques while vacationing—specifically Boston rockers and glassware. The piece gently mocks how antique-hunting becomes an obsessive hobby that derails vacation plans and finances. The accompanying cartoons reinforce this theme: one shows a woman labeled "Hands Off" protecting her antique collection; another depicts two men discussing collecting habits, with one claiming twenty-five years of collecting. The satire targets middle-class consumerism and how leisure activities (antique shopping) can become frivolous expenditures that contradict practical gift-giving intentions.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Lf you will ket Bay that Mle ta A ] 17] Apord the $15 That Aunt Ef Aont me Sor bithay Your Iurnover on that 3/5 4A Almpl: mar OU, “Buy Yourself a Piece of Old Glass” HAVE to laugh every time I hear the old saying, “Easy come, easy go.” That is one of the funniest remarks ever made, and yet behind the humor of it there is a world of wisdom, Some of the casiest money that ever came into our family was that fifteen dollars that Aunt Etta sent my wife on her —th birthday with the note, “Take this and buy yourself a piece of old something. You know so much better what want than I do.” We must give Aunt Etta credit for hitting the nail on the head. We could hardly wait to motor out to our favorite and least vicious antique shop to spend Aunt Etta’s fifteen dollars. We had been having a streak of economy and had been keeping away from antique shops as if they were strong liquor, as in- deed they are. It is hardly necessary to explain that Aunt Etta’s fifteen dollars proved only the nucleus of our expendi- tures on that trip. When we have had fifteen dollars’ glass or you “Hun! ANY DUMBBELL KIN SEE THAT!” worth of antiques we—that is, my wife gets all giddy and doesn’t realize how many she is taking and doesn't care. Of course, fifteen dollars is not a lot of moncy, but when spent for old Castoria bottles and Woolworth water- glasses, it will buy quite a little basket- ful. And after that, everything else seemed so reasonable, considering that the first fifteen dollars’ worth cost ab- solutely nothing. So the first trip out Aunt Etta's fifteen berries cost me fifty or sixty more. Two months later we were motor- ing through the White Mountains. I had, without saying anything about it, sewed a hundred dollars in my camisole, for emergency use for antiques. I really wanted to get home with it if possible, and thanked God every time we passed an antique place without stopping. I kept saying, “We will see another one on the way back.” Finally I heard from the back seat, “STOP! STOP! Oh, dear, there is the lo Boston rocker. STOP!" I recognized this as authoritative. When she says it in capital letters, I stop. “But, darling, we have three Boston rockers, and isn’t this wonderful trip cnough in itself?” “T'll tell you what. If you'll let me get that Boston rocker I'll spend that fifteen dollars that Aunt Etta sent me for my birthday.” This did not sound exactly right to me, but I could not think fast enough, and before I could help myself we had gone in and soaked a hundred and sixty-five dollars in rickety rockers and doddering desks and other broken brac, including old rugs, hooked and un- hooked. Three months later in Connecticut we spent it again. We have spent it four times on Long Island, and we have spent it at least a half-dozen times in New Jersey. And I believe that if I wanted to be absolutely pure in my memory, I could swear that | have never secn it even once, not even that first time we spent it. Easy come, I'll say easy go. The next time Aunt Etta sends a cash gift, I am going to mark the bills. Don Herold. Modern Manias Visitor: Got any new types among the lunatics? Keerer: Oh, yes. We got a couple of modern movie sheiks, a Charlie Chaplin, a Happy Hooligan, a mil lionaire bootleg king, a couple of Pro- hibition agents, a leader of the Anti Saloon League, and several pacifists. F Dawes is elected Vice-President it will be worth while to hear him take the oath of office. A.D. 1950 Official: wuo are you? “I'M A BONUS COLLECTOR.” “BONUS COLLECTOR?” “YES; I'VE B TRYING TO COLLECT MINE FOR TWENTY-FIVE YEARS.” comicbooks.com