Life, 1926-08-05 · page 8 of 41
Life — August 5, 1926 — page 8: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This cartoon satirizes marital economics during the 1920s. A husband has just insured his life for two thousand dollars in his wife's favor. The wife responds that for such an amount, she could obtain garters—implying his life insurance payout is inadequate compensation for her. The joke reflects contemporary anxieties about women's consumer desires and marital value. The cartoon mocks both husbands' financial insecurity and wives' materialism. The woman's casual dismissal of her husband's life insurance as insufficient for even a modest purchase (garters were inexpensive accessories) suggests either her extravagant expectations or the inadequacy of working-class male earnings. This represents typical Jazz Age satirical commentary on gender relations and economic pressures within American marriages.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE MAN WHO READ ALL THE BOOKS ON BEFORE HE STARTED OUT. Terrible Threat “ATOW, Willic,” said the teacher, “if you aren't a good boy I'll make you stay after school and learn the names of all the Premiers of France since 19% HIKING ir of garters, please. Something like the ones Fond Husband: 1 wave aust INSURED MY LIFE IN YOUR FAVOR FOR TWO THOUS DOLLARS. Doting Wife: aNv WHAT KIND OF A CAR DO YOU THINK 1 COULD GET For THAT? P JSSYFOOT JOHNSON has suggested giving chloroform to certain judges. At how much a case? a The papers say you can now buy two francs for a nickel, and yet a flapper of our acquaintance insists that at all roadside stands they're still selling for five cents apiece. aL The world progresses but little, the Sesquicentennial reminds us. One hundred and fifty years ago we had Georce III. Now we have Wayne B. Wueerer. aL For reporting that there was liquor in the home of a neighbor a Kentucky farmer was fined ten dollars under the Anti-Gossip Law. There’s a law that should have more teeth in it. LL And now the study of biology has been banned in Texas schools. If they keep on passing these prohibitory laws, the acquirement of education is going to be just one grand vacation after another to the so-called kiddies of Dixie. LL When President Cootince invites Governor Au Sait of New York to lunch the day selected is Friday. You can’t beat the economy program. Cat is catching his own fish. LL From the results of the President's fishing exploits we are at last getting conclusive proofs that he piker. is no JL A sculptor who has made a bust of Roary Amunpsen claims that the ex- plorer’s nose measures three inches in length. A nose for news! =o Here are two tributes to the dura- bility of America’s favorite vehicle: “Mrs, L. Savage, 25, Avenue, San Franc’ death, her husband, 26, has a fractured leg and broken ribs, while their six-months-old Henry escaped without hurts in an auto accident.” —Oakland (Cal.) Tribune-Sun, 24 San Jose » is near “Franx Crark Breaks Arm Cracxina Forv” —Mason City (la.) Globe-Gazette Those little things are not so fragile as they look. LL Asp-eu-Krim_ has been relegated to an island in the Indian Occan quaintly named Réunion. “Yes,” commented Mr. Krist sadly, when interviewed by a Lire reporter, “me and who else?” comicbooks.com