Life, 1926-09-02 · page 15 of 41
Life — September 2, 1926 — page 15: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The page contains several brief satirical items and one cartoon. The main cartoon depicts a woman telling her husband he has "grown terribly thin" while she admits to dieting after getting "so terribly fat." The satire targets domestic life and gendered expectations around appearance and body weight during this era. The "Life Lines" section above includes short jokes and social commentary—mocking government inefficiency (an artichoke-slicing machine), archaeological obsession, and Congressional dysfunction. "The Thin Edge" is a poem about longing and distance, while "Brief Essay on the Automotive Industry" sardonically notes that cars have increased mortality, crime, delinquency, and other social problems while eliminating horses. The overall tone is characteristic of Life's satirical approach to American social and political issues.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Life Life QE Lines es HE Navy Department proposes to build a dirigible Tire times the size of the Shenandoah. Bigger and Better State Fairs are evidently in order. LL The Army’s mosquito expert says the person bitten should never slap the offender. We knew pacifism was prevalent but we did not know it had penctrated so far. LL The Federal Government announces the perfection of a for slicing artichokes. This is misdirected What is needed is a machine to prevent noviccs from ordering artichokes in the first place. * aL “World's Oldest Play Unearthed in Egypt.”—Headline. We knew that, if those archeologists kept on digging, they'd eventually get down to “Abic’s Irish Rose.” aL And by the way, the richly deserved success of “Abic’s Trish Rose” seems to be unimpaired by the recent state- ment that forty per cent. of all divorces are traceable to intermarriage between races. aL A burglar broke into a Kansas City store and stole lingerie worth 500. The police are searching for a man with a cigar box under his arm. aL Congress has at last discovered a good reason for ad- journing: it has to give the Anti-Saloon League a chance to straighten out its accounts. LL There is this distinction, we gather, between the Senate and the House of Representatives: Senators have to buy their own nominations, whereas Congressmen may have theirs bought for them by the Anti-Saloon League. JL “Mr. and Mrs. John Beverlin are rejoic- ing over an eight-pound daughter, their sixth child, since last Saturday.” —Newton (Ill.) Mentor-Democrat, Fast work in the Great Middle West. LL Coo.ince economy for the first time has invaded the field of crime, the American people having decided to make a four-yegr-old murder mys- tery do for another season. The Clock Watcher BEL: Those are beautiful clocks in your stockings. Manet: Yes, and they don’t need any hands on them, cither! Kid: ¥a GoTTa GIVE ‘IM CREDIT FER BEIN’ GAME, Boss. Tu’ PUP’S ONLY TWO MONTHS OLD. The Thin Edge ITH you, my heart is quict here, And all my thoughts are cool as rain, Go by before the window And reach my hand to yours, 1 I wonder what it’s like in Sp: Dorothy Parker. Brief Essay on the Automotive Industry HE motor car has increased the ratio of mortality, created appalling traffic problems, contributed to juvenile delinquency, showed half of America how to live beyond its inccme, and relieved us of the horse fly. Mrs. Boyshform: youR HUSBAND HAS GROWN TERRIBLY THIN. Mrs. Stylish-Stout: yrs, poor FELLOW—yOU SEE, I WAS GETTING 80 TERRIBLY FAT, WE HAD TO DIET. comicbooks.com