Life, 1924-12-18 · page 5 of 37
Life — December 18, 1924 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three separate humorous pieces: 1. **"Biography of a Christmas Present"** (top): A visual joke showing a gift's journey through six pairs of hands between December 21-26, with each person's posture suggesting they're passing it along rather than keeping it. The satire mocks regifting and the impersonal nature of holiday gift-giving. 2. **"The Real Reason"** (right): A sentimental parody about repetitive love declarations, mocking overwrought romantic language in popular songs. 3. **"A Pleasant Job"** (bottom): A cartoon showing shopgirls during holiday retail chaos. The punchline jokes about Christmas occurring only once yearly, with one shopgirl wishing it would come more frequently—satirizing the exhausting commercial demands of the season on retail workers. The page's overall theme critiques commercialism and insincerity surrounding Christmas.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Biography of a Christmas Present [ESEHBEE 21—Purchased by T. Worsley Jenkins ai the Maison Pfhaff. december 22—Sent by T. Worsley Jenkins to Miss Milli- cent Koumiss. Jecember 23—Opened by Miss Millicent Koumiss, and sent (a few minutes later) to Frank S. Nicholsby. Jecember 24—Opened by Frank S. Nicholsby, and sent (immediately) to Miss Helen Clinker- son. December 25—Opened by Miss Helen Clinkerson, and dis- patched (by special messenger) to T. Worsley Jenkins. December 26—Returned by T. Worsley Jenkins to the Maison Pfhaff. One-half original price refunded. Cc. G. S. First: Shopgirl: Second Shopgirl: The Real Reason “GWEETEST of them all,” “My dearest, my only own,” Jow I adore you!” “There is no other half so sweet,” “You are the one girl for me,”..."I love you How many hundreds of times he had repeated those very words! Ah, how many thousands of times! And yet, he had been perfectly sincere cach time. You see, he was a writer of sentimental song-hits. A Pleasant Job KNICKS: Where did you get that roll of money? Kwacks: It's not mine. I'm just breaking it in for a friend! OUBTLESS when they told Jackie Coogan that Rome -was not built in a day, he found consolation in the thought, “Well, Los Ange! AIN'T YOU GLAD CHRISTMAS COMES BUT ONCE A YEAR? YES, IF IT WOULD ONLY COME, comicbooks.com