Life, 1926-01-21 · page 22 of 36
Life — January 21, 1926 — page 22: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three satirical pieces typical of 1920s American humor: **"That Lucky Piece"** mocks superstition. A man confuses a British threepenny coin for an American dime, nearly losing it twice—once on a bus, once at a newsstand. Each near-loss results in physical injury (getting thrown off a bus, knocked by a taxi), yet he celebrates keeping his "lucky piece." The satire: the coin brings nothing but misfortune, yet he credits it with saving his life. **"The Crystal Cup"** is a book review in verse, satirizing Freudian psychology's popularity in the 1920s. It mocks a woman whose sexual coldness toward men is attributed to "endocrinal glands" and unresolved father issues—a parody of how pseudo-scientific psychology was applied to explain women's behavior. **"The Native Son"** is a brief joke about geographic ignorance, where "Barry" admits he's never visited the Woolworth Tower despite being a New Yorker—likely mocking Americans' unfamiliarity with their own landmarks. The page emphasizes satirizing contemporary trends: superstition, Freudian fads, and urban provincialism.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Friend of Rising Author 1 SPOKE TO EDITOR BRUFF ABOUT YOUR WORK, BUT HY SAID HE NEVER HEARD OF YOU. Rising Author: Never MIND. HE'LL BE USEFUL TO ME IN DISCOVER I’M GOOD ABOUT THE TIME 1 REACH MY DOT AT HIGH PRICES LONG APTER EVERYBODY ELSE HAS MY OLD AGE. HE'LL AND WILL BUY MY STUFF REALIZED I'M THROUGH. That Lucky Piece ] WOULDN'T lose my threepenny “lucky piece” for anything. It nearly went to-day when I thought it was a dime and tried to insert it in a con- ductor’s fare box on a Fifth Avenue bus. It would have been lost forever, no doubt, if the conductor had not noticed and thought I was trying to cheat him. He threw me off the bus and I strained a ligament in my leg—, but I got my lucky piece back again. A little later I made the same mis- take at a news-stand. It’s awfully easy to confuse a dime with a three-pence. And it was just as difficult to convince “pecGY’s CAUGHT CoLD.” LOOK AT THE “WELL, NO woNpER! the newsdealer that it was all uninten- tional as it had been the conductor. He threw the coin on the sidewalk and it went rolling out into the street 1 panic-stricken. No telling what misf would happen to me if I lost it. So I dashed out to retrieve it, got knocked down by the fender of a taxi and rolled to the curb just in time to miss being run over by a truck I still have my lucky piece. If it hadn't been for that I probably should have been killed. Tracy Hammond Lewis. NARROW GARTERS SI Rhymed Reviews The Crystal Cup By Gertrude Atherton BE AUSE she'd loathed her horrid Dad In dark, neurotic self-repression, The lovely, black-eyed Gina had The anti-masculine obsession. Boni & Liveright And yet, while people mostly found Her manners cold, though quite in- formal, Her endocrinal glands were sound And all her other glands were normal She'd talk with lads, but if they tried To kiss her teeth out, And scoff, when asked to be a bride, “Oh, cut the orange-blossom wreath out!” she would knock their She said to Eustace, “Man of stone, Come, marry me and live contented As husbandette in name alone! And, loving her, the fool consented His nerves began to scratch and bite; And by and by he couldn't stand it Where Gina sat and thought, one night He burst in brashly, playing bandit. She didn’t know him acting rough; And when he bolder, And tried the cave-man movie stuff, She up and shot him through the shoulder. seized her, growing Her interstitial cells awoke— That is, her soul began to burgeon; And, when her present bonds are broke, She'll marry Geoff., the handsome surgeon. O Freud! O Steinach! O my land! Oh, men; oh, maids; oh, mates, take warning ! I think this tale is simply gland!— How are your endocrines this morn- ing? Arthur Guiterman The Native Son CARRY: Were you ever up in the Woolworth Tower? Barry: Good Lord, no! in New York T was born ODERN Marriage Slogan—"Cheer up! Divorce is yet to come.” comicbooks.com F