Life, 1925-06-04 · page 27 of 44
Life — June 4, 1925 — page 27: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains several short satirical pieces typical of Life magazine's humor: **"The Fair Exchange"** depicts a humorous correspondence between a writer and magazine editor—an ironic "friendship" born from polite rejection letters. The satire mocks the excessive courtesy both parties exchange, turning a simple manuscript rejection into an elaborate dance of mutual appreciation. **"Why Professors Age Young"** is a brief joke: Miss Smith attributes November 11th to her boyfriend Fred's fraternity dance, implying professors age from student social demands rather than academic work. **"Commencement Thinking"** satirizes graduating students' inattention during commencement speeches—they worry about losing athletes, misconstrue the speaker's conclusions, and anticipate complaining about football tickets as alumni. **"Buried Alive"** jokes about a newspaper advertiser's complaint: his paid advertisement was placed on the editorial page rather than the ads section—literally "buried." **The illustration** captioned "The Gay Nineties: The Flashlight Photograph Craze" shows eight people in 1890s dress posed for a photograph, apparently satirizing the era's enthusiasm for flash photography.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The Fair Exchange THe manuscript did come back, but sccompanying it was one of the very nicest personal letters of regret I ever saw. The editor was touching in his abject apology, No lack of merit had been implied; no inaccuracy nor yet un- suitability for that magazine had ex- it was purely that an unfortunate circumstantial combination prevented ptance of my manuscript at that isted: the ac particular moment. I wrote the editor my thanks, and quite sincerely expressed my apprecia- tion of his explanatory letter. He replied, informing me that he had he ure I'd take the proper attitude, and repeated his regret over the en- foreed rejection. | replied, telling him that he might have been sure I'd see it in the proper light. and asking him not to let the matter give him any further concern or worry He replied, assuring me that it was a pleasure to deal with a writer who not only had a desire to deal fairly, but was capable of looking at a thing strictly on its merits. Thus started a friendly correspond- which has been going on for A PLACE TO HANG MIs MAT several months. The problem is, I have another manuscript I'd like to send him, but I hate to break up such a beautiful friendship. Wayne G. Haisley. Why Professors Age Young s ISS SMITH, what occurrence is commemorated on November 1 “Oh, that’s the date of Fred's fra- ternity dance,” THE GAY NINETIES THE FLASHLIGHT PHOTOGRAPH CRAZE Commencement Thinking (Done White Listening to the Distin- guished Speaker) “TTS tough to lose twenty varsity letter men in one class.” “Hell, he hasn't reached his climax yet; I thought he was in his conclu- sion.” “L wonder how much the old boy takes down for a speech like this. Anyway, it’s too much.” “Well, I'll be an alumnus in a few minutes. That'll entitle me to bellyache about football tickets.” “He can't be through yet; he hasn't told us what he'd do if he were twenty- one again. Yes, he is! He isn't such a bad old goat after all.” McCready Huston. Buried Alive EWSPAPER ADVERTISER (complainingly) : 1 paid you my good money for carrying my announce- ment, and here you've put it on the editorial page! IVE an actor enough rope and he'll give an imitation of Will. Rogers. comicbooks.com