Life, 1926-09-02 · page 25 of 41
Life — September 2, 1926 — page 25: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satirical page mocks American car culture and tourism. The main article "Yes; It's a Great Educator" features people from various cities bragging about cross-country driving trips, but they reveal they've *missed* actual historical sites (battlefields, the Liberty Bell, Boston landmarks) while rushing between towns or stuck in traffic. The joke: cars promised freedom and education, but tourists were too hurried or distracted to appreciate anything. The left cartoon shows a "device for eliminating back-seat drivers"—a car contraption to silence nagging passengers, satirizing the common complaint about backseat driving. Other brief humor includes: a prohibition-era joke about "dry dock" (cutting naval budgets for alcohol enforcement), a mock-Ibsen poem about chronic complainers, and a maid rejecting a chauffeur's advances since she's staff, not a society woman. The page satirizes American materialism, tourism superficiality, and automotive culture's failure to deliver promised cultural enlightenment.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Historic Note EACHER: What happened in Europe in 1914? Same My Papa and Mamma left Russi Yes; It’s a Great Educator GPTTisBune: The Lincoln Highway along there is a great relief after the mountains. You can do forty casily and don’t have to shift gears. We would have stopped at the battlefield but we wanted to get to York before all the rooms in the new chain hotel were taken, Philadelphia: The Sesquicenten- nial didn’t bother us any. We knew a short cut across the city so that by turning over to the northeast we missed all the traffic. The children were a little disappointed at not see- ing the Liberty Bell but we got them ice-cream cones this side of Trenton to make up for it. New York: Why, driving in traffic in New York is no harder than driving right here in Jonesville. And having the car with you gives you a better chance to get around to all the historic points. If we hadn't been in a hurry to get out on the Boston Post Road before dark we'd have seen some of them, I'll tell you. Boston: There’s a city that stirs your patriotism. Did I tell you what the traffic cop said to me there? Well, if I hadn't been going on to Gloucester that night I'd have stayed over just to report that gentleman. Jonesville: Well, touring is a great educator, all right. But when some DEVICE FOR RLIMINATING BACK-SEAT DRIVERS Mr. Woof (the Club’s chronic kicker) : ser were— you’Re THE CHAIRMAN OF THE HOUSE COMMITTEE. it’s UP TO YOU TO PROTECT THE MEMBERS’ RIGHTS. Chairman (wearily): we Mr. Woof: tuere Are No “VW it comes to living in any of the towns we saw I wouldn't trade old Jones- ville for all of them. McCready Huston. The Mountain Gets the Jump on Mahomet “COLONEL” Jerry Conklin. has abandoned his plan to run an excursion from Woodpit to New York City. When asked for an ex- planation he said: “Well, arrange- ments were about completed when I learned that ‘Abie’s Irish Rose’ was booked into the local Strand for a three- nights’ engagement. Course that killed the excursion idea. for why should any one go to the city this hot weather when a company in’ ‘Abie’s Irish is comin’ right ‘0 town?” E. T. C. Definition RY DOCK—the process of dock- ing naval appropria- tions for further ex- penditures on Prohi- bition enforcement. WHAT 18 IT Now? IN THIS ALPHABET SOUP. If Ibsen Had Written It T’S casy enough to be morbid When one has a pa rd gall, But the one for my own Is the one who can groan When nothing's the matter at all. “THAT 5 something to blow about,” said Mr. West Wind when he saw the flapper’s knee. Chauffeur: WANT TO TAKE A Joy- RIDE, SWEETIE? Maid: Not oN your LIFE. RE- MEMB VM THE MAID IN THIS HOUSE, NOT THE MISTRESS, comicbooks.com