Life, 1926-08-19 · page 10 of 37
Life — August 19, 1926 — page 10: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three separate pieces of humorous content typical of early 20th-century Life magazine: 1. **"A Visit to the Shirt Hospital"** - A satirical narrative about taking a damaged silk shirt to a specialized laundry service. The humor derives from treating shirt repair with the formality of medical care, complete with a "head nurse" (Miss Cleeks) conducting ward tours. 2. **The illustration** shows a nurse with a patient, playing on the hospital metaphor. 3. **"Relief"** - A brief joke about a housewife selling items to avoid collecting charity during hard times, with social commentary on pride and economic hardship. 4. **"Tabloid Erudition"** - A joke about outdated undergarments, playing on generational fashion differences. The page reflects concerns about laundry services, domestic economy, and social class anxieties of its era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Life A Visit to the Shirt Hospital Te little silk shirt I was calling to see had had her name taken off the danger list, and was doing as well as could be expected. I was not permitted in to see her, as the doctor was removing the stitches. M Cleeks, the head nurse, invited me on a tour of inspection, and I quickly accepted, as this was my first visit to a shirt hospita In the orthopedic ward was the cutest little blonde shirt, and I could see from the way her bosom heaved that she was very much upset about something. Miss Clecks went over and petted her, and she quieted right down, I felt so sorry for her. One of her arms was a 32 and the other a 35. Then there was flannel shirt. I was told he was a bit of a bully, and was most irritable when he first arrived. He would cuff any of the shirts that did not agree with him. ‘They soon ironed that trait out of him. Night shirt was just a regular fellow, a bit senile, but full of fun. He had a fund of humorous stories, but Miss Clecks told me some were a bit risqué, and perhaps it would be just as well to go before he became reminiscent. Dress shirt had a private room with a special nurse. He was very much of a snob. When he first arrived he started in to run the hospital his way, but they soon took some of the starch -# out of him. | We next visited the babies’ ward, and I met little, old- fashioned, quaint Dickie. Miss Cleeks ; told me he was in frightful shape when | they brought him to | the shirt hospital, but | that good care, warm water and lots of pure soap had certainly worked wonders. “MOTHER LIKES YOU, BUT PAPA DOES NOT; BUT DON’T worRY— THEY ARE TO SEPARATE, AND MOTHER’LL BE THE ONE WHO WILL LIVE WITH wus.” Agent: Lavy, 1M SELLING— Housewife: WUAT A SCARE You GAveE ME! YOU WERE COLLECTING. 1 THOUGHT Dickie was a foundling, having been left in an ash barrel in front of the Waiters’ Club. y way out of the hospital I was t nt ward, where the shirts Over in one corner there going on. eciding that I had seen enough, I asked Miss Cleeks how I could leave the hospital. She pointed to a con nt collar, who had suffered abrasions in a laundry but who was now being given a clean bill of health. “Just follow the Arrow,” she told me, sweetly, Charles W. MacGregor. n into the have a a big: stod Tabloid Erudition OTHER: Well, good-by, dear; I'm going to a meeting of our Browning Club. Sopuisticaten Sun-Den: Gee whiz, Mother, that bird starting another one already? ND, while we think of it, what ever became of those old- fashioned undergarments that used to be known as “unmentionables”? comicbooks.com