Life, 1925-04-09 · page 7 of 41
Life — April 9, 1925 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This Life magazine page contains three separate pieces of humor: **"The Hold-Up"** is a comedic monologue where a patient demands a doctor examine his back, using increasingly frantic exclamations ("Oh! Oh!") to convey urgency—the joke being the absurd escalation. **"Easter Statistics"** presents satirical data about Easter observances in 1925, mocking Americans' limited engagement with the holiday (only 37% of people planning to send Easter cards actually do). The humor targets American commercialism and apathy. **"Near-Truth"** is a brief dialogue between a waiter and customer about near-beer (alcohol substitute during Prohibition), playing on the absurdity of fake beverages. **"Childish Treble"** is a large cartoon showing children singing in a church choir. The caption "BA, BA, BLACK SHEEP" suggests the humor involves children's nursery-rhyme quality voices disrupting a formal religious setting.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The Hold-Up “Tee” up your hands!” “Oh!” Higher.” “Oh! Oh!” “Still higher.” “Oh! Oh! Oh!" “Now let's see what you've got.” “Sh-h-h “But—I—ah: “Don't say a word.” “Er—ah—I * “T tell you to be quiet! Now, let me examine the back muscles. Ah! Just as I thought. Rheumatism. You can lower your arms now. That'll be twenty dollars, please.” C. G.'S: Easter Statistics 57 3 PER CENT. of all the * callosities treated in Bellevue during the month of April, 1925, were cattsed by persons rubbing their fingers over Easter cards to ascertain whether they were engraved or just printed. Of every 100 citizens who made plans to send lilies to their dear ones at Easter, 37 compromised at the last mo- ment on cards, and 62 forgot to send anything, If all the insides blown out of eggs hy small children at Easter were laid end to end, it would be a practically impossible thing to do, 708 magazine editors in the United States wrestled with the problem of how to get an original cover not em- bodying the idea of a blonde carrying lilies. 707 finally ran covers embodying the idea of a blonde carrying lilies. (Note this week's Lire cover.) 98 per cent. of the people who were asked S when does Easter come this year, anyway?” didn’t know. 14 widely read dailies are published in New York C Of these, there are 14 which annually report the Easter parade to have been the most successful in history. In 17 cases out of every 21 in Ameri- can-born families, the form of Easter observance followed is sitting before the radio, listening to “If I Can't Get the Sweetie I Want, God Help the Sweetie I Get.” 96.4 per cent. of all writers whose gladsome Easter literature appeared in the Easter magazine numbers caught severe colds gathering their material on the afternoon of the Harvard-Yale football game. The undersigned feels kind of rotten himself Tip Bliss. Near-Truth “WAITER, I've a good mind to re- port you. I ordered near-beer and you've brought me the real thing.” Still Searching IOGENES, the other day, visited one of our ultra-modern cities, car- rying his celebrated lantern. Il me, Diogenes,” asked one of the young men-about-town, “what is it you are looking for “I am in search of a girl.” he said, “ girl who wears black stockings. ABLE (at the college Prom): So this is our dance? Craupe: Yes. Shall we sit on the porch, take a stroll in the garden, or go for a spin in the car? Childish Treble: BA, BA, BLACK SHEEP, comicbooks.com