Life — November 5, 1925 — page 9: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "The Criminal Follies" by Max Lief This satirical poem in *Life* magazine catalogs contemporary urban vices and crimes of the Jazz Age era. The accompanying cartoons illustrate various social ills: gambling, violence, sexual misconduct, bootlegging (during Prohibition), con games, kidnapping, and organized crime. The verse mocks both the criminals themselves and the sensational newspaper coverage of their exploits. References include "Passionate Parson Convicted of Arson," "Sweetie Slays Daddy," and "Dying, Flays Lynchers"—apparently real or semi-real scandals of the period. The poem's closing couplet asks sarcastically: "Ain't this a grand world we're living in, buddy?"—a rhetorical condemnation of American urban corruption and moral decay. The cartoons show pickpockets, car thieves, and various lowlifes operating freely in this lawless landscape.