Life, 1925-02-19 · page 15 of 37
Life — February 19, 1925 — page 15: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two distinct illustrations and literary content rather than explicit political satire. The top cartoon depicts a theatrical scene: a playwright (standing) confronts a theater manager about rewriting a play. The manager demands "spice" to compete commercially—a commentary on early 20th-century theater commercialism versus artistic integrity. The lower cartoon shows two men in what appears to be a dining dispute, captioned with working-class dialogue about a tip or payment disagreement. The caption's misspelling ("'IM" for "HIM") satirizes working-class speech patterns, typical of Life's era. "Mrs. Pep's Diary" is a domestic humor column about marital conflicts and household management. These pieces mock upper-middle-class anxieties about servants, social standing, and domestic propriety rather than target political figures.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
A Child-Labor Garden of Verses Mornings UMMER fading, winter comes— Frosty mornings, tingling thumbs, Lunch-box filled, but not for school : “To the mill!" is childhood’s rule, At the Seaside I was down beside the sea, xden spade they gave to me © on the sandy shore; I laid the spade upon the sand— use 1 did not understand ; id never played before. Sunbeam March the plant is the sunshine ight ; It siniles through the window-pane; It crawls in the transoms, hinting of lelight; it might as well be the rain, Pl I mB Edmund J. Kiefer. laywright: 1 HAVE IT! I'LL REWRITE THE DECAMFRON FOR A COUPLE OF YOUR STARS TO PLAY IN. Manager: 0. kK. BUT YOU'LL HAVE TO PUT SOME SPICE INTO IT IF YOU WANT TO In 1975 COMPETE WITH THE OTHER BROADWAY SHOWS. Fiks Tf BROADWAYITE: That actor is in soft. SF Sicoxp Broapwayite: How come? ‘ Fy Ie has one of those inheritance rdles in ‘Abie's Irish Ces Lops Diar y? thed from father to son in perpetuity.” Awake betimes, steeling myself to go up once more against the greatest problem in my life, which is getting proper credit for the empty siphons we return, the druggist having no greater faith in my integrity than I in his. Lord! I had liefer drink still waters for the rest of my days than go into such conflict for the sake of eighty or ninety cents, but my husband, unfortunately, likes a t to his beverages....Mary Skip- worth to luncheon with me, all a-twitter over the fresh asparagus, and I did remind her that since she and I are alike in getting pleasure out of little things, it were well to believe what the platitudinists say about life’s being founded on them. M. remarking that the criticks have begun to pick on Robert Louis Stevenson, we fell a-talking of our board- ing-school days, when we so treasured Virginibus Puerisque, and we recalled how a certain girl had not made our sorority because she did eat the lettuce that garnished her cold tomato. Rereading Ethel Kelley’s “Wings” in the eve- ning, the hero of which set me to pondering why a con- firmed zxsthete is almost always a despicable character. February Sam complaining of an agony in his. throat, we 13th did have the doctor in after breakfast, and Lord! the poor wretch’s goings-on over the painting of his tonsils were enough to have brought the police upon us had the windows been opened. At my wits’ end to keep him entertained, I did set him to devising the 1 WUZ TURRIBLE HUMILIATED! HE ONLY LEFT A QUARTER most unpleasant remark that one person could make to ON ME TRAY AN’ 1 FERCOT MESELF AN’ THANKED 'IM!” (Continued on page 31) comicbooks.com