Life, 1925-10-15 · page 18 of 36
Life — October 15, 1925 — page 18: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes the absurdity of overly-specific municipal legislation. The "ordinance" proposes criminalizing hats that annoy others by their appearance—enabling arrest, public hat removal, and jury trials over hat disputes. The accompanying photograph shows a street scene with multiple pedestrians and various hat styles, illustrating the proposed law's impracticality. The satire mocks two targets: (1) cities passing petty, unenforceable laws, and (2) the fashion anxiety around hat styles during this era. By treating trivial aesthetic complaints as serious legal matters requiring formal procedure and juries, *Life* ridicules both municipal overreach and the social pretension surrounding fashion. The humor relies on readers recognizing the absurdity of criminalizing personal appearance choices.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Suggested Ordinance HEREAS, certain persons promenade abroad with round or square objects commonly styled “hats” upon their heads; and Wuereas, These objects are often displeasing on account of their shape or size, angle at which worn, or state of dilapidation, Be It Hereby Enacted: 1. Tuat any person or persons wearing hat or hats annoyed by the appearance of a hat upon the head of another person may at once stop said person, hereinafter called the “ar- rested, 2. Tuat the arrestor may thereupon say in the hearing of three witnesses, all in the hear: ing of cach other: “J Do Not Like Your Ha 3. Tuat the arrestor is then empowered to arrested remove the hat from the head of the and throw said hat into the street. 4. Tuerevron it shall be legal for the ar- rested to recover the hat from the strect, but upon the condition that he at once summon a body of five passers-by who shall act as a jury. Ir shall be the duty of the aforesaid jury to deliberate at once upon the appearance of the arrested as he is when hatted. The general appearance of the arrested shall conform as nearly as may be to his general appearance be- fore his hat was thrown in the strect. 6. Ir the jury shall decide in favor of the arrestor, the hat of the arrested shall be thrown back into the street; but 7. le the jury shall decide in favor of the arrested, he may thereupon seize the hat of his arrestor and SELL it. 8. Nok shall the arrested ever in any way be fined or otherwise punished for doing as set forth in Sec. 7 of this Act; however, he shall understand that this Act in no way shall be taken as a repeal of existing Traffic Acts, Statutes, Ordinances, or other laws. Gerald Courtney. Registered HERE had been a large porch party and the guest book was passed around for signatures. onny walked up to the guest of honor and said: “I know why Mother asks you to write in that book. It’s so if she misses anything all she has to do is to look in that book to see who was here last.” A Lady's Man ASON: Smart chap, that cousin of yours. Mason: I'll say so! He knows the difference between a French bob and a semi-shingle! ‘AIRY STORY—Once there was a motion pic- ture advertiser who never said, “Here is a picture of universal appeal.” O the first tee see him standing, with a glance From the bunker-guarded fairway, green and To his anxious partner, whisp'ring nervous couns! And his adversaries, grinning as they wait. On the crowded club veranda, where the aunts 2 There are giggles, and a buzzing like a hive All Creation’s looking at him, all the world its w Just to watch that hapless duffer make his drive Poor devil! | Waits and watches, hushed and happy, for that @ve comicbooks.com