Life, 1925-03-05 · page 11 of 36
Life — March 5, 1925 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This *Life* magazine page contains satirical commentary on early 20th-century American social issues: **Top cartoon**: A man in a diving suit asks a blacksmith for heavy oil to grease his cups, saying he wants them "turned down." This appears to satirize Prohibition enforcement—the diving suit suggests he's "underwater" or hidden from authorities while seeking lubricant, likely a euphemism for alcohol acquisition during the dry era. **"The History of a Joke"**: Mocks a well-worn anecdote about a wife's debts bankrupting her husband, treating it as exhausted comedy. **"The Party Line"**: Rural gossip column featuring small-town scandals—borrowed money, new dresses, city visits, widow remarriage—poking fun at farm community social pretensions and provincialism. **"100 Proof"**: Argues Prohibition fails because people won't obey unjust laws.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
SS yee Ihe wre “WHAT HO, SMITH! BRING The History of a Joke MAYY. many years ago there ex- isted a melancholy tale about an extravagant wife and her unfortunate husband who could ill afford the nu- merous and enormous debts she con- tinually contracted. With the passage SECOND YEAR. HE DISCOVERS POTTED PLANTS LAST LONGER With Flowers ME TWO QUARTS OF HEAVY OIL AND I WOULD FAIN HAVE MY GREASE CUPS TURNED DOWN.” of time, the debts increased, while the husband’s resources diminished. So very dreadful, eventually, became the situation that there was nothing to do but regard it all as a huge joke. “QAY, waiter, is this Scotch or rye?” Pe: e nastiurtiun AP oe a Tig now FIVE YEARS AFTER MARRIAGE The Party Line “CNOOD times, for a farmer, is bein’ let borrow more moncy against his crops than he'll be able to sell ‘em for. “Amy Wyster is goin’ to have a new dress made next month, She must be figurin’ on attendin’ th’ Chautauqua this August. “Lizzie May Worth don't have no luck. She studied in a book a month th’ kind of fork to eat oysters with, an’ when she got to th’ city her cousins had clams, “Th’ Widow Mainard is thinkin’ of marryin’ again so she can have her hair bobbed without people talkin’. “It ain't things that's monotonous. It’s th’ way you look at ‘em. “Bein’ born with a silver spoon in your mouth don’t make th’ castor oil taste any better.” KM 100 Proof PONENTS of Prohibition con- cede it to be a failure, reasoning that the law is so bad that nobody will obey it, and that since nobody will obey it the law must be bad. comicbooks.com