Life, 1925-10-15 · page 5 of 36
Life — October 15, 1925 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two distinct sections: **"The Revert" story** (upper text) describes a bootlegger in New York who reinvents himself multiple times—attempting various legitimate businesses (orange groves, oil leases, real estate) before returning to bootlegging, finding it the only profession where he can claim to be "doing the Right Thing." This satirizes Prohibition-era hypocrisy: bootlegging was illegal yet morally rebranded by its practitioners. **"Attica" dialogue** and illustration below depict 1890s bicycle culture. The cartoon shows a woman enthusiastically taking up the bicycle "craze"—a major social phenomenon of that decade. The caption notes this was a "familiar scene" on city streets, suggesting the bicycle's popularity among women was notable enough to warrant satirical commentary on gender and modern recreation. Both sections mock contemporary social phenomena with gentle irony.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
I eC The Revert—Very Latest Model Please do Remem- NCE thére was a Bootlegger in New York. not laugh, Boys and Girls; there really was. cr, this happened a very, very long time ago. He was doing quite well in a Small Way, but after his Attention had been Called to certain remarks in the Papers by William H. Anderson and the Rev. John Roach Straton dd others, he decided to check out. So he turned over his Interests and went to California, e he engaged in selling Orange Groves, But after arly training, this seemed to him to be pretty Raw wh his Stuff, so he abandoned the business. He then went to Texas and became a Middleman in transactions in Oil Leases. But again Conscience smote him. So he journeyed to Florida, and took up peddling Real Estate. But this he found to be altogether too Rough. “I do not like this business of Putting on Disguises and Hanging my Head and Dodging Around Corners whenever I sce one of my Customers coming,” he said. “I must get into an Honorable Profession.” And then he had an Idea. So he went back. to New York and re-entered Boot- legging. “I may not be making much Money,” he told his f “but at least I have the satisfaction of knowing that I am doing the Right Thing. Tip Bliss. ends, Attica LLA: I suppose you met lots of Greeks while you were in Athens, Erta: Yes; they have them over there, too. THE GAY NINETIES FAMILIAR SCENE ALONG ANY ASPHALT STREET ON A NICE SUNDAY AFTERNOON IN THE NINETIES, SHOWING A LADY TAKING UP THE NEW BICYCLE CRAZE IN A SERIOUS WAY, | comicbooks.com