Life, 1926-01-07 · page 13 of 40
Life — January 7, 1926 — page 13: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three separate humor pieces from *Life* magazine: 1. **"Lines to a Faded Derby"** - A satirical poem by Elias Lieberman mocking a worn-out hat that once belonged to someone fashionable but is now shabby and cast aside—a metaphor for lost social status. 2. **"Mind Over Motor"** - An article praising New York City's new traffic control system, illustrated with a cartoon showing a barber directing orderly crowds and vehicles. The satire suggests that controlling NYC's chaotic traffic is as impressive as managing a barbershop. 3. **"How Come?" and "Young Husband"** - Brief humorous anecdotes about everyday domestic situations (oranges, slippers by a fire), representing typical *Life* magazine humor. The cartoons use exaggeration and domestic scenarios to satirize modern urban life and social pretensions.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
- LIFE - i Lines to a Faded Derby (With Sincere Wishes for am Unhappy New Year) ONE is the aureate halo that scattered Splendor about you wherever you passed; Battered and spattered and woefully shattered, Time and the hour have caught you at last. Meek like the rest of us, weak like the best of us, Fashion has dealt you a staggering blow; Now you are merely the sport and the jest of us, Only a ghost of a grand long-ago. Was it not Edward, proud Prince of the British, Who in his well-bred discretion chose you? | Then you were dazzling and rakishly skittish Now, poor old has-been, you're dented and through. Gracious civility, spacious gentility Under your dome enjoyed fulness of days; d Now you have touched the last rung of humility, Even cast off by detectives in plays. Elias Lieberman. Mind Over Motor A “TER many years of labor and thought, involving mil- lions of dollars and a huge corps of highly trained policemen, New York City has at last developed a perfect traffic system. For instance, take Fifth Avenue (no, leave it where it is; go, rather, and view it). Stand on the corher of Forty second Street about three-thirty in the afternoon; tell the boss you want to go down and play in the Stock Market a while. If you are of medium height—six feet three or more— you may be able to sce over the heads of the crowd. And what a sight, dear friend, will meet your eyes! Meticulously garbed and accoutered policemen, with large shining badges, and kindly, understanding smiles, quietly and efficiently directing the enormous stream of motors LN Barker: Lapits AN’ GEMMEN, WE TURESQUE AMUBRICAN QUARTER OF ARE NOW ENTERIN’ THE QUAINT AND PIC- Noo YAwK! Child Movie ME THAT LIMC DADDY, YOU'VE Got TO BUY | JSINE OR I'LL FIRE YOU AS MY MANAGER THEN WHERE'LL YOU BE? and men; well-ordered lines of people walk gracefully, freely, and easily across re ng carefully, fectly aligned rows of cars, trucks, taxis patiently and without the least sign of h go; tall traffic towers, silent guardian their red and green lights halt id buses, waiting te the signal to of the public safety, i or motioning on with a lovely flash the great flood of vehicles—mute monit es from whose eyes can stop or start a world of motion; and above all, that perfect quiet, that co: absence of blaring horns 3 screai ig whistles which can | result only from a highly perfected organization of the channels of traffic So's your gr. golf! How Come? ] HAVE tistical Steve, figured,” declared Sta- g aloft thirty pages of scratch paper and that if each plotted “parcel of Florida orange-growing land produced a pencil stub, range a year, the price of Id immediately drop to cent. This figure does consideration the lemons. OUNG HUSBAND when I got home my wi ht ad my chair drawn up before the fire, my slippers ready for me to put on, my pipe all filled, and- ] Ot Frexp: How did you like her new hat? comicbooks.com