Life, 1925-07-02 · page 33 of 47
Life — July 2, 1925 — page 33: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**The Top Cartoon ("The Gay Nineties"):** This satirizes the 1890s fashion trend of trouser cuffs. A well-dressed man asks another about London rain while gesturing downward—the joke being that the new cuffed trousers collect water and mud, requiring careful balance and composure to maintain one's dignity in wet conditions. It's gentle mockery of a passing fashion fad. **The Text Stories:** These are nostalgic anecdotes about small-town American life (Jonesville). The first contrasts old-fashioned merchants who never took time off with modern businessmen seeking extended holidays for pleasure trips—lampooning how leisure and work-life balance have changed. The second is a simple pun: "big kick" meaning both enthusiasm and literal horseback riding. The page reflects Life magazine's satirical approach to contemporary social changes—new fashion, shifting work ethics, and American leisure culture.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE GAY NINETIES “WEY, MISTER! IS IT RAINING IN LONDON?” (A disciple of the new-style trousers with cuffs found a considerable demand upon his poise and fortitude.) Jonesville Plans a Week-End “WHEN I first started making Jonesville, thirty years ago, a good many o° th’ merchants would keep open th’ morning of the Fourth o’ July an’ close up in th’ afternoon for th’ celebration; but I was just around talkin’ to the proprictor o’ th’ Bon Marché, an’ he’s tryin’ to get the rest of th’ storekcepers t’ close on Monday, too, seein’ the Fourth falls on Saturday this year. He wants to have one o’ those triple holidays that was so common when th’ boys was fightin’ over in France.” The gray-haired traveling salesman leaned against the marble desk of the Hotel New Trianon and watched the Kiwanis Club assembling for the weekly Iuncheon in the Olympian Room. “He says he’s invited to a house party in the Wisconsin dells an’ he's afraid if he has to rush back he'll offend his host. The fact is, neither the business nor the house party'd suffer if he'd get wrecked half-way between. I used to sell his father when the Bon Marché was just Taylor's drygoods store. The old man never took any single week-ends, Iet alone triple ones, an’ that’s the reason this fellow can afford to worry over the calendar.” McCready Huston, Up to Expectations “HOw does your daughter like that horseback camp she’s attending ?” “Oh, T can tell that she’s got a big kick out of it.” comicbooks.com