Life, 1925-02-12 · page 24 of 36
Life — February 12, 1925 — page 24: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This 1920s *Life* magazine page offers satirical observations about suburban commuting life in "Hazelhurst," likely a fictional stand-in for an actual New York commuter town. The top cartoon depicts a man shoveling snow while eating breakfast—the "Breakfast Hat" caption jokes that suburbanites need to multitask even during meals due to harsh winters. The left column humorously catalogs things every commuter "knows": trains deliberately run late out of spite, brutal winters exceed historical blizzards, telephone operators gossip about everyone, and local politics are as corrupt as New York City's. The bottom illustration shows an "Incensed Parent" confronting what appears to be a young man, with the parent exasperated: "Don't you ever think?" This critiques youth's apparent lack of foresight or responsibility. The "In the Wings" section contains brief theatrical backstage banter, unrelated to the commuter theme. Overall, the page mocks both suburban life's frustrations and the character flaws it supposedly breeds.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
22 What Every Commuter Knows HAT the engineer of No. 56 de liberately reaches Hazelhurst five minutes ahead of time, out of person! spite. That people who manufacture fur naces ought to be in the cold-storage lusiness, That the average Swedish maid cai make better time getting in and ov «f Hazelhurst than Nurmi. That the celebrated blizzard of "85 was nothing compared with what hap- pens in Hazelhurst every winter. That flower seeds planted upside down and burrow the depths of the earth. That the Hazelhurst telephone op- know the private affairs of every man, woman and child in town That Joe turned that shape. That the Enderbys make a living by playing professional bridge, ard t there is something Enderby's business in town are inv erators Meadows lawn certainly re- mower in terrible phony Incensed Parent: *God’s noblest handiwork, and * LIFE = ‘Time-Savers for Commuters BREAKFAST HAT ENABLES THE SUBURKBANITE TO TAKE NOURISHMENT (CEREAL AND COFFEE) WHILE SHOVELING SNOW, That the boy who chucks the paper on the porch is a rotten shot That the water-rate shows there is more graft in Hazelhurst politics than in all New York City. But that, after all, Hazelhurst is a guy must be an awful boob to live in town, Tip Bliss “poN'T 1 EVER what?” In the Wings “LJOW’'S the act going?” Phey're applauding something “You said something.” HERE'S always room for a good man except on a cabaret dance fo coop Gop! voN'T You EVER think? comicbooks.com