Life, 1925-08-20 · page 24 of 36
Life — August 20, 1925 — page 24: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**The Cartoon:** "The Gay Nineties" depicts fashionably dressed 1920s women and men on a street, with the caption mocking how men once got excitement from merely glimpsing a woman's ankle. The joke satirizes the dramatic shift in social morality and fashion—women now wore shorter skirts and danced the Charleston, making the Victorian-era prudishness seem absurdly quaint. **The Articles:** McCready Huston's piece humorously complains about reported Marine withdrawals from Nicaragua, treating it as a recurring myth so constant that Americans rely on it for psychological stability—like Santa Claus. He suggests actually withdrawing would dangerously disrupt the national worldview. The "Nubbville Spark" items are brief humorous anecdotes: one about missing an airship, another joking that someone got kicked by a mule while doing the Charleston with an inexperienced dance partner. Together, the page reflects 1920s concerns: social change, American military interventionism treated as permanent policy, and the era's new dance crazes.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE GAY NINETIES IT 1S HARD TO CONCEIVE, IN THIS DAY AND AGE, THAT THERE REALLY ONCE WAS A TIME WHEN THE “HE-PELICANS” IN FRONT OF THE CIGAR STORE GOT A WHALE OF A THRILL OUT OF JUST A MERE ANKLE. This Must Not Be I SEE by the papers the Marines are about to withdraw from Nicaragua. I have written to the President about this. If it should really take place the effect on the country would be serious. The withdrawal of the Marines from Nicaragua is one of America’s myths. Ever since anybody can remember the Marines have been about to withdraw. Nobody ever knew why they were there or why they were leaving; but the regularity with which they were announced to withdraw held the world steady. No matter what might befall, the Marines were withdrawing from Nicaragua as usual and all would be well. The national mental image of a Marine is that of a soldierly young man in the act of abandoning Nicaragua. It is to be hoped that the newspapers are mistaken about the withdrawal as usual, because a revision of the tradi- tional idea of the Marines would be dangerous. For our part, we would as soon give up our faith in Santa Claus as accept the fact that the Marines had actually withdrawn from Nicaragua. McCready Huston. Nubbville Spark N airship flew over Nubbville yesterday afternoon, but unfortunately nobody got to see it as it passed too soon after Mitch Farling had found a dime near the station ‘IZ ICKED by a mule?” “No, I was doing the Charleston with a green partner.” comicbooks.com