Life, 1925-05-21 · page 27 of 40
Life — May 21, 1925 — page 27: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains satirical content mocking early 1900s American culture: **"Where the Western Begins"** (poem by Thomas Pye) satirizes Western films and frontier mythology. It mocks the exaggerated morality ("right is righter and wrong is wronger"), artificial drama ("sheriff shoots to thrill"), and melodrama of Wild West cinema—a booming genre at the time. The humor lies in exposing how filmmakers created heightened, unrealistic versions of frontier life for entertainment. **"Lessons for the Little Woman"** parodies condescending driving instruction for women, presented in patronizing, exaggerated phonetic spelling. It mocks both the automobile industry's dismissive attitude toward female drivers and husbands who treat their wives as incompetent behind the wheel. **Lower sections** include brief joke items: a radio broadcaster spoof and a golfer/burglar punchline. The page overall targets emerging 20th-century anxieties: cinema's influence, automobile adoption, and changing gender roles—presented through satirical humor typical of Life's editorial voice.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Where the Western Begins V HERE does the Western begin? Out where the bunk’s a little stronger; Where right is righter and wrong is wronger; | Out where the hokum lingers longer— | That's where the Western begins. Out in the great wide open lots, Where no one shrinks from close-up shots; Where men are men and children tots; Out where a horse is a he-man’s pal- A curious chum for an an-i-mal!— And the ranch is run by the old man's gal— That's where the Western begins. ADVANCE TIP ON SUMMER STYLES: TIE RADIO HAT FOR Out where a cowboy's kept aloof crerenEe Unless he mounts his horse from the rovf— He drops with a thud, and the horse says, “Ouf !"— | That's where the Western begins. Lessons for the Little Woman The Automobile Out where emotions surge and spill, But keep within range of the camera still; HIS jig-ger is the e-mer-gen-cy brake. When you are Out where the sheriff shoots to thrill; sure the oth-er dri-ver will give you the right-of-way, yank it hard, a-ny-way. This ped-al is the foot brake. Out where mush plays a double-header ; Al-ways step on it when you feel you sim-ply must go Out where red blood’s a little bit redder, fast-er. And the sense of humor a whole lot deader— There are four brakes, but there is on-ly one ped-al. That's where the Western begins. Per-haps it is fun-ny that there is not a ped-al for each Thomas Pye. brake, but man-u-fac-tur-ers have their own i-de-as a-bout things. The oth-er ped-al is the clutch. You must push it | DITH: What's the object of your new society? down to shift gears. I know you can shift gears with-out | “Don't know yet. We haven't picked out a slogan.” push-ing down on it when the mo-tor is not run-ning, but it is best not to when it is go-ing. Oth-er- wise there may be a nas-ty tear-ing noise. The man in blue is a po-lice-man. When he puts his hand up you must stop. His hand is up now. No, not that. The oth-er pedal, con-found it! I know I spoke harsh-ly, dear, but it is better to speak harsh-ly to you tWian the judge. Now, you may start a-gain. I was not yel-ling to get you all con- fused. I was yel-ling at the care-less man who just knock-ed him-self down with our au-to-mo-bile. If you will pull to the curb, we will give him our names and ad-dress. No; I do not ex- pect him to call, but his law-yer may. Thank hea-vens we are in-sur-ed. To- mor-row you shall have your les-son from a chauf-feur. I shall ar-range to be too bus-y to give it my-self James Kevin McGuinness. Mashie Needed Broadcaster (on night the talent fails him): writ, FOLKS, We'VE GoT A MARVELOUS ASSEMBLAGE OF ARTISTS HERE AT THE STUDIO TO-NIGIT—YES—YES— ILLS: How did the policeman al- UM-HA-HA—STAND BY, EVERYBODY! TILE STARS ARE ALL CLAMORING TO AMUSH low the burglar to escape? YOU—FIRST, WE'LL HAVE A BAL-BLAA-A-LET'ER Go, (Solfo voce.) QUICK, TAD, Witis: He used to be a golfer, and TURN ON THAT MCCORMACK RECORD. didn’t know which club to use. comicbooks.com