Life, 1925-04-09 · page 13 of 41
Life — April 9, 1925 — page 13: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three separate humor pieces typical of early 20th-century Life magazine: 1. **"And That's That"**: A joke about a businessman (Mr. Pratt) suggesting his secretary visit art book exhibitions of cathedrals to seem more cultured—a satire on superficial self-improvement and class pretension. 2. **"A Question of Taste"**: A brief joke about oysters, illustrated with a scene of a foreigner learning American business methods and quickly forging a check. 3. **"American Inventors' Series - Lord Cecil Fingers"**: An article about the historical figure who married a baker's daughter despite class differences, resulting in a cake named "Lady Fingers" after his wife. The satire mocks aristocratic rigidity and suggests humble origins produce lasting legacies. The humor targets class consciousness, pretension, and social mobility—core themes of Edwardian-era American satire.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
And That's That “[ XCUSE me, boss,” said his private secretary, coming into the office of Mr. Carlos Pratt, of Stampedia, who made his money in potash, “but I got big idea, You ought to go into thedrals.” “What do you mean by cathedrals?” id Mr. Pratt. Vell, here's an art book containing a list of the biggest cathedrals in the world. Swell stuff, I'll say. Now, boss, why don't you go into "em?" “You mean importing ‘em? ‘o, sir; I mean building ‘em all ind.” What are they for?” “Oh, just looks. You get enough of cm in this country and then they would think we were somebody over in Eu- exclaimed Mr. “That's an idea,” Pratt. “Ask Dick to come here.... Dick walked in briskly. “Yes, Mr. Pratt?” “Order some cathedrals.” T. Lol, A Question of Taste Ne : Do you know why I like oysters? Jaa: No, why? “1 don't know. That's why I asked you.” FOREIGNER, learn American methods, is charged with having forged a check for $5,500. How quickly they do learn! here to business “ARE YOU GOING TO EUROPE ON THE Local Guide: GENTLEMEN, WE ARE NOW PASSING ONE OF THE FEW SPEAK-EASIES WE HAVE IN TOWN. Chorus: way? American Inventors’ Series Lord Cecil Fingers HE career of Lord Cecil Fingers is a triumph for Democracy! Scorn- ing the conventions of the nobility in England, he fell in love with a baker's daughter in Devonshire, far below his own station (East Hampstead, two stops above), and married her in 1856. For this he was cut off from his own family and ostracized by the aristocratic MAURETAN “NO, I'M GOING TO CALIFORNIA ON THE CONTRARY, y of the time ; and eventually Lord Fingers and his wife, his son Index and three little girls, all found their way to America, where our story begins. Times were hard; it was before the era of English lecturers, and it seemed as if Lord Fingers could find no way to feed and clothe his family. “Thumb,” he said (he always referred to his wife affectionately as “Thumb”), “I'm a i we cannot make both ends meet.” “If we can't make both ends meet,” replied his wife bravely, “at least we can make one end mect and the other very nearly meet.” So she went back to the bakery busi- ness, out of which she had so gayly married; and soon her was rewarded by the invention of a new kind of cake, which leaped into instant favor. Lord Fingers gratefully named it after his wife, Lady Fingers, by which name it is known to-day; and often in later years he would gather the children about him. “If only,” he would say, with an affectionate glance at his wife making batter in a corner, “if only all my Fingers were Thumbs.” Corey Ford. The Great Detour VEN the late tornado steered clear of Herrin, Illinois. soci perseverance comicbooks.com