Life, 1925-12-10 · page 24 of 36
Life — December 10, 1925 — page 24: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The main cartoon depicts a domestic scene where a husband, "John B. Gogettem," is reminded it's Christmas morning—but his immediate excitement isn't about the holiday. Instead, he springs from bed because December 25th is the deadline for a special investment offer in "Miracle Acres," a Florida real estate development with a dollar-down payment scheme. The satire targets the real estate speculation craze of the 1920s, likely the Florida land boom. Gogettem's name itself is a pun on get-rich-quick mentality. The joke is that commercial greed has entirely displaced the meaning of Christmas—a holiday's spiritual significance is eclipsed by financial opportunity. The smaller cartoons and text snippets below are brief humorous anecdotes about improbable situations (an honest newsboy, a clean watch needing no repair), serving as filler content typical of Life's satirical format. The top illustration shows what appears to be a comedic ethnic scene involving twins, with dialect humor common to the era's problematic conventions.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
AOS \\ q “YOU SEE, I NO CAN TELLA DA TWIN APART, SO WHEN ONE: The pillows all but smothered the response. “John, dear, it’s seven o’clock—time to get up. “Ah, just a few minutes —” “But, John, dear, don't you know what day this is? December the twenty- fifth!” There was a among the covers. “By golly, I almost forgot! You're dead right, dear, it is the twenty-fifth— the day our special ten-day offer to new investors expires under the dollar-down initial payment plan for greater Miracle Acres. Gosh, dear, I'm glad you re- minded me.” And with a mighty spring, John B. Gogettem, the wonder man of the West Coast, began another red-letter day in Florida realty. PW, sudden startled stir I SPANKA DEM BOTH.” LIGHTLY used padlocks may now be obtained in Philadelphia at greatly reduced prices. JIMMIE’S IDEA OF A GOOD PADLOCK LAW. CK) a ‘A DEM HE GET NAUGHTEE, Unsolvable Mysteries A MAN took his watch to the jewel- er’s and after looking carefully at the viscera the repair man said it was as clean as a new pin and didn't need any work done on it at all. eee A newsboy on Broadway at midnight had the right change. eee A tourlst went all over Ireland and came home and didn’t tell any stories about the jaunting car drivers’ wit. eee A traveler went late at night to a hotel where they advertised “rooms $1 and up” and was shown to a dollar room. eee A writer who had been specializing in jokes for forty years went to a comedy and didn’t hear a single gag he'd ever heard before. Strickland Gillilan. comicbooks.com