Life, 1925-07-02 · page 23 of 47
Life — July 2, 1925 — page 23: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains multiple satirical pieces mocking American provincialism and social pretension: **"His Small World"** (top dialogue) ridicules a narrow-minded businessman who, despite living in New York, lacks cosmopolitan sophistication. The joke: even NYC residence doesn't guarantee cultured perspective. **"Fairy Story"** (left, with dog illustration) appears to be a brief humorous sketch, though the text is partially obscured. **"Mrs. Poppy's Diary"** (right) satirizes a wealthy socialite's obliviousness. She describes a "best-known citizen" who admired paintings by Frans Hals (a Dutch master) and asked if the artist had a studio in New York—revealing ignorant provincialism despite his pretensions to refined taste and missionary work. **The cartoon** (bottom left) shows Miss Bunny relieved she won't need an etiquette book—satirizing anxious social-climbing and rigid formality concerns. The overarching theme: American wealth and status don't guarantee genuine culture or good manners; pretension and narrow-mindedness persist even among the supposedly sophisticated.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
rchitect’s hand was here seized in a large His Small World . ? ty grasp. It was the President of the Com- ‘H = seems awfully provincial, R. bor Diary 0 spoke. doesn't he? So small-town in oy,” he cried, his white mustache trembling, his ideas; so narrow in his outlook on Lay late, pondering many things, in especial the ve cut the Gordian knot of business. With life” J story I heard at dinner last night about one of ng slash yca have increased the efficiency of “What can you expect?—he’s lived 25th our best-known citizens, who, being shown ce one hundred per cent. How can I ever all his life in New York.” about the old masters in the Metropolitan Museum in pu?” . A. H. F. order that he might decide upon the school after which Fairy Story OME are born great, some achieve his portrait should be done, had most admired the pictures real trouble with the world,” said the re- greatness, and some have a bowing made by Franz Hals, and had inquired if that painter had ner, “is tha} we take things too seriously.” © acquaintance with headwaiters. a studio in New York. This same citizen, moreover, is conspicuous for his missionary activi- ties, both at home and abroad. When Tennyson wrote that kind hearts were more than coronets and simple faith than Norman blood, I doubt gravely if he spoke the truth, for taste, me- seems, comes nearer to godliness than cleanliness, which it implies, nor does it follow that the lord of a manor must needs be a villain....By motor to Greenwich in the late afternoon, there to dine with C. Dodds in the ice- house on the Benedict estate, which he Miss Buony! weit, THERE'S ONE GOOD THING, ANYHOW. 1 WON'T HAVE TO CONSULT AN ETIQUETTE has converted into a Mecca for ; BOOK TO KNOW WHETHER I SHOULD ASK HIM IN O® NOT. (Continued on page 30) comicbooks.com