Life, 1925-04-30 · page 11 of 42
Life — April 30, 1925 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**Top Cartoon:** An officer parks his car on a street and asks a passerby to watch it while he shops. The satire targets urban inconvenience and the absurdity of trusting strangers with valuables—a common early-20th-century concern as automobiles became prevalent in cities. **"The Practically Complete Idiot" Article:** A satirical character sketch of "Bilkins," a stereotypical foolish man who holds contradictory opinions, makes poor investments (postage stamps, limerick contests), believes dubious claims (about gin authenticity and stock market tips), and spreads misinformation. The piece mocks credulous people who believe unlikely stories and lack practical sense. **Bottom Illustration:** Labeled "Cain and Abel," it depicts biblical figures in poverty, humorously asking for money—likely satirizing beggary or economic hardship.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
vi I 4 Y I “OFFICER, IF I LEAVE MY CAR HERE, WILL YOU WATCH IT WHILE I'M IN THAT SHOP?” Y friend Bilkins is ninety-nine and forty-four one-hundredths per cent. He is, without doubt, the greatest ass I know. He subscribes, for instance, to the popular belief that the weather fore- caster never knows what he is talking about. When the papers say “rain,” Bilkins wears his pongce suit, and when they say “fair,” he totes along an umbrella and mackintosh. He will never light three on one match. He invests most of money in postage stamps to send out nominations for names of new magazines or get free booklets from cor- respondence courses. Once he won a dollar in a limerick He thinks any man is un- popular forever who uses the wrong fork on a salad course, and he broke off his engage- ment to a beautiful girl because she ordered chicken salad three times in succession. imbecile, his The Practically Complete Idiot When he inadvertently walks under a ladder he raps wood after- ward. It is his firm opinion that every beg- gar on the street has a bank account bigger than the average Stock Ex- change member's. He is always insisting that women are mysterious, on Cain and Abel: Give us A CENT, PoP? Adam: 1 HAVE NO CENT. Cain and Abel: WELL, LOOK IN YOUR OTHER POCKET, He is trying to invent a substitute for gasoline, He says that half the ministers of the gospel in the country are leading double lives, if you only knew the true facts in the case. He buys “real imported” Gordon gin, instead of making his own, and thinks it is genuine because you can read the under side of the label through the bottle. He tells his wife when he wins money at poker. Any moron would be in- sulted if you introduced him to Bilkins. But even Bilkins doesn’t be- lieve that the True Stories in the True Stories ma are true stories. There is a limit of idiocy, even for Bilkins, Tip Bliss. razines UDGING from the value of most of our mail, the senders who bought even 4- cent stamps were Rank Spendthrifts. comicbooks.com