Life — February 11, 1926 — page 1: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis This is a February 11, 1926 cover of *Life* magazine priced at 15 cents. The title "Working Girl's Number" and the illustration depict a romantic office scenario: a man in a suit leans in to kiss a woman seated at a typewriter. The satire targets workplace dynamics of the 1920s. The caption notes "This is a Sample of the Work Done on this Machine"—a double entendre suggesting the "work" being performed isn't typing. The joke satirizes both the distraction of office romance and perhaps the stereotype that working women (a relatively new phenomenon post-WWI) were primarily objects of male attention rather than serious professionals. The illustration mocks the romantic idealization of workplace relationships while commenting on women's precarious professional status.