Life, 1926-07-29 · page 30 of 37
Life — July 29, 1926 — page 30: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page collects brief satirical anecdotes and cartoons lampooning social absurdities of the 1920s era. The humor targets: **Social pretension and awkwardness**: A child worries about affording pennies for his nephew; a parrot's "tightrope trick" impresses until the bird complains it's "damned difficult"—deflating false sophistication. **Workplace frustrations**: A reporter quits a tabloid job, only to reveal his "old business" was also newspaper work—suggesting the industry offers no escape. **Modern confusion**: A child asks why a horse is "tied in front of the automobile," satirizing society's rapid adjustment to cars replacing horses. **Generational shifts**: References to "The New Woman" and arrests for wearing men's clothes reflect 1920s debates over changing gender norms. The cartoons use simple illustrations and working-class dialogue to mock pretension across class lines—from sailors to reporters to society matrons. The humor is gentle rather than biting, typical of *Life*'s satirical style targeting everyday foolishness.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
A Dark Age In Between “SAD A DRINK LATELY, “writ, MUsT BE Att or ‘str a’ ’oun.” —Bulletin (Sydney). Unclehood’s Responsibilities Lirrie Frank, aged six, heard of his sister's baby son and commented: “Oh! Now I'll have to get « job und go to work.” “Why?” asked his mother. “Weil, you know my nephew'll want pennies and it'll embarrass me not to have any money to give him.” —Charleston News and Courier. Just Like That Gurr: Congratulate me! thought of something clever. Wir: Beginner's luck. —Nebraska Ategwan, Ive Just “Witar’s the strike about?’ “I dunno, but we're in th’ right.” —Smith’s Weekly (Sydney). “AND I SAYS TO IITM, ‘YOU'RE SO DUMB YOU WOULDN'T KNOW TILE DIYFERENCE BETWEEN A TWO-THREAD LUG NUT AND A SLOT-SLIDE —Princeton Tiger. “Aut Scissors aut Nullus” Parrot Story de Luxe A sattor brought home a parrot for his old mother. “It is a clever bird,” said he, “and never indulges in swearing or obscene talk. It ean do very amus- ing tricks.” His mother, therefore, summoned her friends to tea, and the parrot was shown to them. “What about these tricks?” asked the mother, “Well,” said the sailor, “there's the tightrope trick.” Accordingly, they stretched a piece of rope from one side of the room to the other, and the parrot solemnly walked across, balancing itself with great in- kenuity, ‘The spectators laughed heartily at this ridiculous sight. Whereupon the parrot, on reaching the far end of the rope, turned upon them, and said sharplyt “Yest Very funny, I admit, but damned difficult !* —Tit-Bile (London). A Difficult Trick “foto! Look pretty Now!” —Le Journal Amusant (Paris), Quite a Difference Fromx the awful tabloid newspaper row comes a story about an old-time reporter who got a job there. At every turn the city editor blocked him; he could do nothing right. “Well, I guess I'd better quit,” he said one day, sourly. The only answer he got was “Huh!” “Nothing I do seems to please you. I think I'll go back to my old business” This caught the editor’s ear. “That so? What was your old business?” “Newspaper work."—New Yorker. Second Sight and Second Thought A xew weather-expert undertakes to forecast for fifty days ahead. Most peo- ple prefer to have it broken to them gradually.— Punch. Moveax Curt (seeing horse-drawn vehicle): Mummy, why is the horse tied in front of the automobile? —Le Péle-Méle (Paris). Stutz of 1926: As futile as a dime in a Pennsylvania primary.—Detroit News. “AND IF I TURN THIS KNOB, WILAT WILL 1 GET?” “rwo currs oN Tite kan!” —Le Monde Illustré (Paris). Beware Oss of our most distinguished throat- surgeons told this at lunch the other day. A small coster child entered his operat- Ing-room at the hospital, looked up at him and said, “If you ‘urts me, I'll tell my dad—and ‘e's a perliceman.” —London Daily Express. Up Betimes “EL tian to get up so many times last night,” says a reader of a certain author, “that I felt like Pepys’ Dia —New Orleans Thnes-Picayune. “The New Woman" Wno remembers the old-fashioned newspaper story about the girl who was arrested for wearing men's clothes? —Detroit Free Press. Grart is property on its way to be- long to some one.—Collier’s, “f WANT A SUITABLE BOOK TO READ ON SUNDAYS—SOMETHING ABOUT AN ACTIVE CHURCH WORKER.” “THEN I RECOMMEND THIS ONE, MADAM. 1's ABOUT A MINISTER WHO IAD TWO WIVES AT THE SAME TIME.” —American Legion Monthly. comicbooks.com