Life, 1925-01-01 · page 14 of 37
Life — January 1, 1925 — page 14: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a four-panel comic strip titled "Skippy" depicting a father-son conversation about misbehavior. The father initially wants to have a serious talk with his son about ringing doorbells and causing neighborhood complaints. However, the son deflects by asking if the father has forgotten his own childhood mischief—referencing a note the father brought home. The satire targets parental hypocrisy: the father, now respectable, attempts moral instruction while his son exposes his own youthful misconduct. The final panel's punchline—the son's prayer mockingly suggesting God "could have knocked me over with a feather"—undercuts the father's authority through humor. This reflects Depression-era comedy about generational conflict and the gap between adult pretense and actual behavior, using a child's perspective to expose adult contradictions.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Father: Look MERE, YOUNG MAN! I WANT TO HAVE A Father: THEN WHAT'S THE ANSWER—YOU DON’T WANT ME MEART-TO-HEART TALK WITH YOU. LAST WEEK YOU TO TAKE A STRAP TO You? BROUGHT HOME A NOTE FROM THE TEACHER IN REGARD TO “ALL RIGHT, PAPA, BEAT ME! THEN SOME DAY YOU’LL COME BAD BEHAVIOR, AND NOW THIS MORNING NEIGHBORS AND TRY TO PUT YOUR ARM AROUND ME ’N’ ILL JUST TURN STOPPED AND TOLD ME A FEW MORE THINGS. HAVEN'T 1 SO’S EVERYBODY C’N HEAR, AN? SAY, ‘NO, FATHER, I AIN'T CAUTIONED YOU ENOUGH ABOUT RINGING DOOR-BELLS?— TO BE TOOK IN THAT Way!’ on, BOY! MAYBE THAT WON'T ANSWER ME! CAUSE TALK. REMEMBER YA DID ONCE BEFORE ’N’ I CRIED ‘OM, DOOR-BELLS—y: ALL NIGHT—BROKEN-HEARTED, THAT'S WHAT T WAS.” “HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN WHAT I SAID WHEN YOU BROUGHT “WELL, LET'S FORGET THAT! STILL, THERE MUST BE SOME- HOME THAT NOTE?” THING WRONG WHEN YOU'RE IN MISCHIEF—NOT ONCE OR “No, PAPA” TWICE, BUT ALL THE TIME, NOW, 1 WANT YoU To TELL ME WHAT'S WRONG.” “wroxc! wit Me! wiHty, PAPA, HOW COULD THERE BE ANYTHING WRONG WITH ME?” Father: THEN IN THAT CASE PERHAPS SVERYBODY “LISTEN, SON, DO YOU SAY YOUR PRAYERS EVERY ELSE 1S WRONG; MAYBE PEOPLE GET IN YOUR Way? “EVERY NIGHT! yrs, SIR! EVERY NIGHT “NOW WE'RE GETTIN’ SOMEWHERE. 1 OFFEN WON- “AND DO YOU ASK GOD TO MAKE YOU A GooD Boy?” DER WHY YOU DON’T HAVE A HEART-TO-HEART TALK “UM OAT HIM ALL THE TIME, PAPA, LAST NIGHT 1 PRAYED UNDER WITH THE NEIGHBORS. BECAUSE ALL THE PELLERS MY BREATH, ‘PLEASE, GOD, DON’Y LET ME CUT OFF DORIS HEROLD'S THINK I'M A SQUARE LITTLE SHOOTER, ’X’ I'M THE MAIR.’ I EVEN SAID IT OUT LOUD, THEN ONLY THIS AFTERNOON HEAD OF A GANG.” 1 GOT OUT THE HEDGE SHEAKS ’N’ WENT UP TO DORIS 'N’ CUT OFF HER HAIR, WELL, SIR, YOU COULD NAVE KNOCKED ME OVER WITH A PEATHER, THERE WAS GOD NOT EVEN TRYING.” Skippy comicbooks.com