Life, 1925-08-27 · page 18 of 36
Life — August 27, 1925 — page 18: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page from *Life* magazine contains a satirical sketch titled "The Mix-up" by Beatrice Herford. The cartoon above depicts a beach scene with various beachgoers, while the text below presents a comedic dialogue between a man and woman discussing apartment hunting. The satire centers on **social class pretense and urban apartment-hunting frustrations**. The couple wants a nice apartment but can't afford high rent. A key joke involves their disagreement over a dog: the man dismisses the dog as an obstacle ("that wouldn't be anything out of the way"), while the woman reveals her expensive dog was a gift—establishing a class-consciousness joke about conspicuous consumption and marital financial dynamics. The janitor subplot adds working-class friction to their apartment search troubles. The humor relies on period-specific urban life frustrations recognizable to early 20th-century readers.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The Height of Indifference—Lady Godiva Visits Atlantic (fy The Mix-up By Beatrice Herford HE: This is the number, darling, and there's a sign, “Apartments to Rent.” I rang the bell. The rent will be too high, I expect. He: Perhaps that’s the janitor fixing that awning up there. Sue: Do they ever come down? He: I'll call him and see. Sue: Oh, I meant come down in the rent? He: My dear, you mix things up so. I'll call to him. Sune: Oh, I wouldn't, it might startle him and make him fall. He: Well, what do you propose to do? Sue: We could just attract his attention naturally. We could be calling a dog; that wouldn't be anything out of the way. He: Except the dog. Sue (calling): Here, Danny, Danny, Danny — He: That'll do, he sees us. to look at the apartment. Janitor: They don't allow no dogs. He: Well, this is no dog. (The man disappears.) Sue: We won't tell him I was pretending; he'll think us such idiots. (The janitor opens the door.) It’s all right about the dog, we haven't any. We were only call- ing. I mean he won't come. Janitor: Not that it's anything to me, only them’s the rules. I like dogs myself. We have one, it belongs to my wife. She was offered one hundred dollars for her. She taught her every kind of trick, but she wouldn't part with her for no moncy. My wife's like that; you could put a piece of meat on her nose and she wouldn't touch it till you told 'er to. Sue: We want an apartment, but we don’t want to go very high. (Calling up.) We want Jas He Jase: (Thy Ser Jus He Jog: comicbooks.com