Life — July 29, 1926 — page 6: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "The Bernabb Macfadden Exhibit at the Sesquicentennial Sexposition" This cartoon satirizes Bernard Macfadden, a prominent 1920s physical culture promoter and magazine publisher. The title mockingly combines "Sesquicentennial Exposition" (Philadelphia's 1926 centennial celebration) with "sexposition"—suggesting Macfadden's exhibits exploited sexuality under the guise of health and fitness. The cartoon depicts various scantily-clad figures on a podium with absurd captions mocking different types of people (dumb women, etc.), likely criticizing Macfadden's tendency to display human "specimens" and promote controversial ideas about physical perfection and eugenics. The accompanying "History of Dumbness" timeline below appears to extend this satirical critique, using historical examples to mock public foolishness and gullibility.