Life — July 29, 1926 — page 11: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis of Life Magazine Page 9 **Top Cartoon:** Bruce Bairnsfather's drawing depicts "Saint Vitus" observing performers doing the Charleston dance. The caption reads: "AND I ALWAYS THOUGHT I'D MADE A CORNER IN THIS THING." This satirizes the 1920s dance craze. Saint Vitus's Dance (a neurological disorder causing involuntary movements) is joked as the patron saint of the jerky Charleston—the wildly popular new dance style. Bairnsfather suggests the frenzied, uncontrolled movements resemble a genuine medical condition, poking fun at both the dance's vigorous nature and society's obsession with it. **Lower content:** "Lessons in New Yorkese" and humor pieces appear, plus a brief item about Maxie Blintz, a singer with a $2,300 weekly salary, contrasting entertainment wealth during the Jazz Age.