Life, 1926-07-29 · page 9 of 37
Life — July 29, 1926 — page 9: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This cartoon satirizes a woman's breathless, run-on complaints about her fiancé Walter. The humor relies on the exaggerated feminine stereotype of gossiping and over-sharing emotional grievances—the title "Just Between Us Girls" frames this as intimate female conversation. The woman describes Walter in contradictory terms (calling him both "dumb" and "brilliant," "dull" and a "dreamer"), suggesting her complaints are irrational or overwrought rather than grounded. The satire targets both the stereotype of women's conversation as superficial gossip and the absurdity of finding fault with someone you claim to adore. The accompanying illustration shows two women in domestic setting, one speaking animatedly to the other. The joke assumes readers will recognize this as typical female social behavior worthy of mockery.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Life Ballade of One Who Is a Total Failure as an Intelligent Conversationalist ‘There are not many such) that loves to take A theme and think it out exhaustively ‘Touching on every phase of it. 1 An epigram; I quote a bit from Bl In strictest privacy my brain’s a hummer! But put me in a crowd and out I break: . “It sure docs Jook like steady rain this summer. I AM the sort of person (you'll agree What is the evil demon thwarting me? Why do I fail to keep my friends awake? Before repairing to a social tea, I plan remarks that make the four walls quake With approbation; everything scems jake. .. a ; ae And then, when introduced to some newcomer, My Dear, ‘igh hd ENGAGED! I murmur from behind my lifted cake, . ELL, my san ABSOLUTE fact-— “It sure docs look like steady rain this summer.” they're I D and IT mean EVERY- . BODY is simply LIVID about it because I My days are one long stretch of misery, mean EVERYBODY simply ADORES Walter and “My memories are full of woe and ache. imply CAN'T understand what he SEES in her, ‘To think that I bring nothing but ennui!— dear. I mean she’s PRETTY and everything but I, brilliant thinker! People simply shake 's so DUMB—I mean I think she's PUALLY Me off, as if I were an empty fake, the DUMBEST girl I've ever MET, my dear—don't As if | were a realtor or drummer, you HONESTLY think so? Well, I) was simply Imagining I say for small-talk’s sake, LIVID when I heard about it—I mean I'm ACTU- “It sure does look like steady rain this summer.” ALLY so mad I could SPIT, my dear, because I mean ae I NEVER in the WORLD could MARRY Walter but LIENvor I mean I SIMPLY adore him because I mean he’s Prince, silence coils around me like a snake; SUCH a dear and I think it’s simply AWFUL to think And though each season finds me growing dumber, marrying anybody like her because you KNOW I must say, ere I jump into the lake, he’s BRILLIANT and everything and, my dear, she's It sure does look like steady rain this summer. SO dumb—I mean I think she’s POSITIVELY the Simonetta. DUMBEST mortal I've ever known....Well, I think she just got ROUND him, my dear, don’t you? I mean he writes for the confession magazines. he’s sort of a DREAMER and everything and I think : For goodness sex! she just sort of INTRIGUED 1} PHYSICALLY— do you know what T mean? But I think it’s simply DISGUSTING the vay she carries on with MEN all the and I mean she’s SIMPLY go- ing to make Walter MISERABLE if she keeps it up—and of COURSF. she will—don't you HONESTLY think so? Well, I'm SIMPLY rag- ing about it, anyways—I mean I ACTUALLY am!” Lloyd Mayer. Bright Sayings of Papa "THERE was once a little girl who went on a long trip with her father, and when she came home she said to her mother: nam T really Papa's little > He told a pretty lady I w RIGGS: By the way, Griggs is a dry, isn’t he? “MR. PORD, I WANT TO TELL OUR READERS ABOUT YOUR WONDERFUL CARS. OF Drices: Not any more. That was ALL THOSE YOU’VE BUILT, WHICH ONE WAS YOUR FAVORITE?” by his first wife. comicbooks.com