Life — January 15, 1925 — page 24: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This satirical cartoon mocks Northern tourists visiting Southern resorts by depicting their romanticized fantasy of what Northern cities look like during winter. The image shows an ice-encased cityscape with frozen buildings, icicle formations, people bundled in heavy clothes, and evidence of extreme cold (vehicles struggling through snow). The joke targets the exaggeration Southerners heard from Northern visitors boasting about harsh winters back home. The cartoon suggests these tourists fantasize about impossibly dramatic winter conditions—essentially presenting a comically frozen, almost fairy-tale version of Northern urban life. The satire cuts both ways: mocking both Northern tourists' bragging and Southerners' assumed gullibility in believing such exaggerations. The caption's phrasing—how Southerners "hope it looks"—implies skepticism about these tall tales.