Life, 1926-04-01 · page 20 of 46
Life — April 1, 1926 — page 20: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three separate humorous pieces satirizing early 20th-century American social life: **"Ways and Means"**: A dialogue joke about a woman's popularity, suggesting women use romantic appeal rather than competence to advance. **"Appearances"**: Mocks hiring discrimination, where a stenographer loses a job not for incompetence but because her stockings "bagged at the knees"—criticizing superficial judgment of women's appearance over qualifications. **"Her Delinquent Male"**: Satirizes husbands' procrastination; a man must rush to mail Christmas cards his wife gave him months earlier, implying men are irresponsible and wives must manage household tasks. **"Ruined"**: A prison visitor asks if early environment caused criminality; the convict blames being "a page in Congress"—satirizing corruption in government. **"Information, Please!"**: The longest piece mocks telephone directory assistance operators' inefficiency and distractibility, suggesting they pursue personal errands (shopping, socializing, romance) instead of focusing on their job. These reflect contemporary concerns about workplace competence, gender roles, and service quality.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
WAYS AND MEANS. Alice: 1sN’T 1T AWFUL HOW GLADYS 1 ALL THE MEN MAKE LOVE To HEK! 1 DON’T KNOW, HOW DOES SI po 17? Virginia Appearances % HY didn’t you hire that stenogra- pher? She seemed quite capable.” “No doubt she was, but didn't you notice how her stockings bagged at the knees?” HER DELINQUENT MALE wnat! Hubby: EASTER ALREADY? HURRY AND MAIL THOSE CHRISTMAS CARDS MY WIFE. GAVE ME. Ir RISON VISITOR: Do you th Ruined your early environment was in any way responsible? Coxvict in Congress. MUST Yes; 1 used to be a page Information, Please ! Or, Try and Get It NFORMATION (smiling as to the | voice) : Informa—tion! Tue Svusscrimer: I'd like the 145 East number of Martin B. Geek St InrorMATION: Martin. Robert, B, as in orange, Geck——J-o-n-e-s; one-three-eight west one-one-nine. One moment, ple-az. (/nformation puts on her hat and coat, powders her nose tells her co-workers not to take any n nickels and gets on a bus going to Jackson Heights, L. 1, turning by Broadway y. Ha up her hat and coat, powders her nose and eats one pound assorted caramels. Works out the significance of name, “Calvin Coolidge,” by numerology. Doesn't think much of result.) Is it a new number? Tue Surscer INFORMATION : twenty-four-page letter to be Powders chocolate friend. r nose and cats one pound peppermint patties. s nails and makes over bl Goes out to lunch and plays rubbers of bridge. Assembles parts of eight-tube radio set and takes lesse c Smokes ci r cigarette. Decid Had you looked up the number in the book Tne Sunscriper (who is m fool, some of the time): Yes. InrorMATION: One moment, ple-az. (Suddenly to Bermuda. Is insist on giving her a farewell dinner. More darn fun and you ought to see her s bower of s. Returns from Ber muda via the Panama Canal. She is all brown and healthy.) Martin B. Geek, 1 st 51 Street? Tire Supscrrer (weakly and in agate type): Inrokmation (like a lark, or maybe a nightingale): There is no num-ber listed under that na-yame! Henry W cut out smoking.) to 90 room—just a Yes, please. liam Hanemann, Home Again HO is the man with all the for- eign hotel stickers on his Iug- gage “Oh, he's the railroad president who made a fortune out of the ‘See America First’. movement.” comicbooks.com