Life, 1926-07-29 · page 24 of 37
Life — July 29, 1926 — page 24: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**"The Gay Nineties" (top cartoon):** This satirizes 1890s courtship customs. The caption jokes that while marriages were "made in heaven," actual courtship required strict chaperonage—an older woman (the "lynx-eyed chaperon") supervising young couples to prevent impropriety. The illustration shows a woman chaperoning a couple in a hammock, emphasizing the invasive oversight Victorian society imposed on romance. **"The Passing of Bozo" (bottom story):** This is science fiction satire set in 2026. "Bozo" is the last pedestrian—a human who walks. In this future, automobiles have become so dominant that pedestrians are extinct curiosities. The story ridicules car culture by presenting the final pedestrian as a hunted animal, captured and displayed, eventually killed by a girl in a "Blubaker Six" (a fictional car). It's dark humor warning about automotive culture's dehumanizing effects. **The closing joke** mocks bureaucratic incompetence—a "dumb" police dog represents high officials.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The Gay Nineties MARRIAGES—IN THE CAREFUL NINETIES—WERE SUPPOSED TO BE MADE IN HEAVEN. BUT THE COURTING UAD TO BE DONE UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF A LYNX-EYED CHAPERON RIGHT HERE ON EARTH, The Passing of Bozo (A Bedtime Story of A. D. 2026 Be was the last of his race, and he lived in a ay, ‘way up in the Rocky Mountains, and him through their spyglasses, and they sent a telegram to a daily paper, for he was a great curiosit: hen lots of men came and surrounded Bozo in his mountain home. By and by they captured him and took him away to a big, big city. Here Bozo was kept on exhibition in a cage and word was sent out to all the people in the world that on a certain day a big Bozo hunt would be held. Lots of men and women drove thousands.and thousands of miles to attend the big Bozo hunt, because Bozo was the last of his race. Many of these men and women had never scen a Bozo, and few of them had ever done any Bozo hunting, which had been considered a rare sport in the days of long, long ago. When the big day came Bozo was taken out of his the horns honked, axons clangec rked. Everybody in the big, big city was trying to get Bozo. Finally a little girl from Hackensack, N. J., got him with a Blubaker Six. And that, dear children, was the end of Bozo, the last of the pedestrians. Asia Kagowan. “THAT mutt a police dog? He looks dumb.” “He is dumb; he’s one of the higher officials. comicbooks.com