Life, 1925-07-23 · page 22 of 36
Life — July 23, 1925 — page 22: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This Life magazine page satirizes American provincialism and small-town boosterism through the character Sam, a Centerville, Iowa businessman abroad in England. **Main Satire:** Sam represents the stereotypical American tourist who absurdly promotes his tiny hometown everywhere—plastering business cards at Buckingham Palace, planning to sell Centerville postcards at the Louvre in Paris. The joke is his oblivious confidence that promoting "Centerville" matters internationally. He's also a comedic "ugly American"—unfamiliar with foreign customs (shocked England lacks cider) and prone to self-aggrandizing anecdotes about his Chamber of Commerce. **The supporting cartoons** mock gender politics ("Lost Cause": women forget they can now vote) and sales tactics relying on psychology over substance. The entire piece gently ridicules American small-town pride and the traveling businessman's misplaced sense of importance—common satirical targets during this era of expanding American tourism and commerce.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Peggy: V'VE LOST MY PURSE. Polly: NEVER MIND, IT DOESN'T SHOW. Selling Centerville The Hundred Per Center Abroad London, Eng. ELLO, Jeff, “old kid”: I have not had a chancet to write to you until now, Jeff, because right after I wrote the last letter we sailed and something I ate on the ship dis- agreed with me, so I was sick all the way across. It wasn’t “mal de mare” (that means sea sickness, Jeff) because I guess us Centervillians are too tough for anything like that. It was some- thing I ate, but there were plenty of people on the board who did have the “mal de mare.” But “all is well that ends well the old adverb has it, and here are the “Mrs.” and I in one of the swellest hotels ih London, only it can't touch the good old Mansion House at home. There is a rack down in the lobby, with a lot of photographs of Buckingham Palace, which is where King Geo. lives, so in the corner of it I stuck my busi- ness card that says “Saml. F. Trubbitt, Real Estate, Centerville, Ia.,” like the Chamber of Commerce asked me to do. Only this morning when I came down, somebody had stolen the card for a souvenir, so I put another one in, and now that is gone, too. Well, I have got plenty of cards, but these Englishmen are certainly terrible sou- venir hounds, and besides Lou Schroc- ber charges $1.50 a 100 for them, to say nothing of the engraving plate. But by the time I get through I guess every house in Eng. will have one of my cards stuck up on the mantle-piece, and there will be more people in Eng. who know where Centerville is than there are people in Centerville who know where Eng. is. I wrote you about this Jas. S. Col- lins that I met on the ship. Well, he and his “Mrs.” are staying at this hotel, and so last night when his “Mrs.” and my ‘Mrs.” were away together somewheres, he said How would a__ little er go? and I knew right away — that meant something to drink. Well, you know T am not a drinking man and the only time you ever saw me pickled was at that clambake and then it was really on account that I had ate so many watermelons, but I said Sure, I will have a couple but we have got to stick to good old cider, and what do you know, Jeff, they didn’t have a drop of cider in the hotel. I guess that’s no joke, Jeff, about Englishmen being so “slow” they think letter carriers are Con- federated veterans. Re- member the laugh I got, he First Hobo: WHEN YOU TAC! IT’S PSYCHOLOGY THAT COUNTS. Jeff, when I pulled that one at the Chamber of Commerce? So anyway, this Jas. S. Col- lins ordered a whisky and soda, which means a highball, Jeff, so I had a couple too, because no- body from a hick town like Bel- lows Falls, Vermont, which is where this Collins comes from, can put anything over on a Cen- n. Can they, Jeff? Jeff, please send me a bunch of those colored picture postal cards of places in Centerville, like the Odd Fellows Home &c, because pretty soon we are going to Paris and I am going to have one of the bellhops at the Louvre (that is the big art muscum, something like the Centerville Civic Center) sell them, Address them to the American Express Co., because they know me, because I bought a book of their checks. Sam. (per Tip Bliss.) Lost Cause Our club decided to start a ‘otes for Women” campaign. Mr.: But you women can vote now. Mrs.: Oh! We forgot that. RS HE radio is a great educational force, declares a professor. If the people ever discover that, radio is doomed. REMEMBER YOUR SELLING ARGUMENT THAT PROSPECT UP THERE, BILL. Second Hobo: cueck! comicbooks.com