Life, 1924-12-25 · page 29 of 37
Life — December 25, 1924 — page 29: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two separate pieces of Christmas humor: **Top cartoon**: A joke about materialism and vanity. A younger sister asks an older sister if Santa sent her a vanity box (cosmetics). The older sister cynically replies that of course he did—but then asks how Santa knew what brand of lipstick to buy, implying the sister must have told him (defeating Santa's magic) or that she's so predictably vain it was obvious. **"Some Exceptions to the Rule"**: A humorous list of all the people and things *not* at peace on Christmas Eve—contradicting the "peace on earth" sentiment. It catalogs domestic chaos: demanding children, clumsy servants, forgetful relatives, teenagers wanting to party, delivery disasters, and electrical failures. **"Peace on Earth" illustration**: A glass soundproof dome enclosing noisy Christmas toys, satirizing the impossibility of peaceful holidays when surrounded by loud, chaotic activity and demanding family members. The satire targets the gap between Christmas ideals and messy reality.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Little Sister: Little Sister Big Sister: wwty, or course. DID SANTA CLAUS SEND YOU A VANITY BOX? WELL, HOW DID HE KNOW WHAT KIND OF LIPSTICK YOU US Some Exceptions to the Rule “TWAS the night before Christmas, and all through the house not a creature was stirring, with the excep- tion of — Father, who wants to know what happened to the Christmas tree stand when he put it away last year— Mother, who is trying to answer the telephone and Father at the same time— Norman, aged three, who is calling from his crib and wishing to be in- formed if that noise he hears is Santa Claus— An expressman, aged a hundred and fifty by the way he feels, who is deliv- ering a rocking-horse at the side door— Aunt Agnes, who has just dropped the library-table drawer seeking a pen- cil to sign the receipt— Grandma, who can’t remember what she did with the Bedtime Stories she bought for Norman's stocking and who wanders about like Lady Mac- beth— Annabelle, aged sixteen, who skips endlessly and wants to know if they can’t unpack the new phonograph cab- inet to-night instead of to-morrow so she can ask some of the boys in to fox-trot while Father trims the tree— A deliveryman, who sounds like a troop of cavalry in the front vestibule and who is with difficulty convinced that he has the wrong house— Norah, the maid, who has dropped a plate in the kitchen— Jack, aged thirteen, who blows out a fuse while monkeying with the lights for the Christmas tree, and throws the whole house in darkness— just Radio loudspeaker, which announces “Christmas Carol, God Rest You, Mer- rie Gentlemen, Let Nothing You Dis- may,” broadcast from Station WOOF. AH. F, VERETT: rington is a real dirt farmer, isn’t he? : No, he’s a real dirt poli- “PEACE ON EARTH” SOUND-PROOF GLASS DOME IN WHICH CHRISTMAS TOYS CAN BE SEEN AND NOT HEARD comicbooks.com