Life, 1925-09-24 · page 7 of 41
Life — September 24, 1925 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two pieces of 1920s satirical content: **"Curbed—A Drama"** is a short comedic sketch about pedestrian safety during the automobile age. It depicts a collision between cars at a street intersection, with characters expressing shock at the accident. The joke centers on the era's anxiety about motor vehicles—"traffic cops" and "cylinders" are mentioned as novel hazards. The sketch satirizes how quickly automobiles became urban dangers. **"Pedestrian Polly"** is a humorous essay about a woman's reluctance to ride in cars after nearly being hit by vehicles multiple times. She describes herself as "The Great Hesitator" and humorously suggests automobiles are predatory machines that deliberately target pedestrians. Both pieces mock early-20th-century automobile culture and society's struggle adapting to mechanized transportation as a everyday threat to safety.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Curbed—A Drama Scene: The intersection of a main lst T. P.: Rather monotonous, ch? orous thoroughfare. 2xp T. P. actly. You feel so Time: 1930, or earlier. « out of it all. (There are vast numbers of people, (The lights change. STOPAND- utomobiles, delivery trucks, taxi GO, the traffic cop, parts the six- drivers, Fisher bodies, and others rep- cylinder sea and crooks a digit at the ted in this play, But there are cowering pedestrians.) ree real characters. You will STOPANDGO: Now-w-w you! ynize them). ST TIMID PEDES- TRIAN: Beautiful avenue. Tintin PepestRian : (Two cars crash, Seconp Exciting, too. (IVindshiclds tinkle gayly.) p T. P.: I love to watch it. Been here long? Ist T. P.: No. Only five or six hours, 2xo T. P.: Oh, you've just T. Ps v's it going? T. P.: Uptown, P.: The morale, (nods): Just. P. (sadly): Gone. Ist T. P.: No luck at all? T. P. (reminiscently) : Not much, I stepped off the curb (Boasting now.) A fel- low got clear across yesterday. Ist T. P. (enthusiastically) What did he look like? T. P.: I don't know. away on a stretcher, : Lucky egg! Sot so awfully, He lived on this side, Ist T. Pi: n the Bulletin? Tr. P.: No. (They read.) “Traf- conditions for to-day settled, To-morrow, light showers of pedestrians,” once. “DIDN'T YOU HEAR? (There is a frightful stampede, Our heroes are the last to move.) Ist T. P.: Yes, so out of it (Faintly.) I like to be in the middle of things. (Halfway over.) The lights change softly, insidiously. The sea closes again. For a minute traffic roars on. There is the sh sound of an ambulance gong as Tue Curtain Fats David McCord. They took remain un- Ns! WHAT'S HAPPENED TO THE STATUE OF AN OCEAN LINER RAN OVER 17.” Pedestrian Polly D? I hear you say Pedestrians’ Number, Mr. Editor? Well, don’t leave me out! I'm one of the best little pedestrian numbers ever! I've walked home from more automobile rides than nobody's business! I started in first. with Chevrolets and wound up with Mack trucks, But they're all alike. After a while my slogan got to be “ Mack to macadam.” rom Last summer I and my girl- friend went on a hitch the Adirondacks, But it was mostly hike. We met two big salesmen coming along in a re- paint’ Buick and them for a lift. Well, after two miles we got it—out. For all those re want to kiss you. very time I step into a machine I some- how feel that my neck’s next. Some of ike to asked d-sheiks. them would even ne a giraffe! But I'm not built that way. I'd much rather get out and walk. I'm what you might call the Great Heeler. Why do I accept auto rides Well, I guess it's just for the thrill of it. Last Sunday we were picked up by a big Marmon on the Boston Post-Mortem Road and from strangers? were going so fast we broke Red-hot Marmo: We The brakes are al- seventy-five. were thrown out! ways against us. y, Mr. Editor! I can sympathize with that girl who was swimming the Channel. She shouldn't have accepted a ride on that boat in the first pI ! Max Li HERE are only two kinds of liars in a smashup: both drivers. A Brief History of the Human Race Vol. I: 50,000 B.C. comicbooks.com