Life, 1926-09-09 · page 13 of 40
Life — September 9, 1926 — page 13: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**"Skippy"** is a comic strip about a mischievous boy. The story here satirizes Uncle Louie, who supposedly swam the English Channel but was actually just avoiding a tonsil operation. The humor mocks exaggeration and false heroism—Uncle Louie fabricates swimming achievements to cover mundane medical procedures. When he later tries swimming in France, he's exposed as a fraud. The strip's point: people inflate trivial events into grand narratives. **"A Truthful Invitation"** mocks upper-class social etiquette by presenting a dance invitation that explicitly acknowledges most guests have declined, requests modest gift contributions, and admits low attendance—inverting typical polite invitation language with brutal honesty. Both pieces satirize pretension in early 20th-century American society.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Life ly “9 YNCLE LOUIE swum the Channel already, but U when he got to England there was only a wateh- man 'n’ he says he didn’t see Uncle Louie ‘cause he hh ass eyes 'n’ once he had a tonsil operation, he told Uncle Louie to come back when the people was up. Well, there was nothin’ to do but tread for cl: so Uncle Louie s " when he got to Fra everybody had gon “Didn't Unele Loui Skippy. Not s’much as a killey ’n’ it made him sore ‘cause he could o” brung Mr. Tootlebom from the ferryboat trio to play navy tunes by the piccalo.” “Well, that’s life! Where did Uncle Louie take his neal?” “Aunt Gussie did up a hot water bag 0’ lentil soup.” “Unele Louie goes back to France, “Yeh! Then he kills a couple 0° hours pitchin’ horse- shoes before he swims back. Well, sir! he gets to England 'n’ everybody's gone ‘cause it’s Derby Day— ceptin’ the glass-eyed watchman.” “Looks to me is if every day is derby day with Uncle Loni “Well, they get chewin’ the fat back 'n Loui says he'll have another try ‘Look at all the carfare ya save.’ “Didn't Uncle Louie run into no fogs?” But Uncle Louie was always very good asked have anybody with him?" everybody * forth 'n’ Uncle ‘n’ the watchman says, sity 's a good thing to ha seams o” ya derby. Well Uncle Louie swum back 'n’ just as he gets half-way across a big shark chews off'n a leg, but just then a crutch floats along 'n’ Uncle Louie grabs it ‘n’ pes like tickled lightnin’ 'n’ when he fin- ishes there’s a whole crowd 0’ people waitin’, but when they see Uncle Louie only had one leg they disqualified him ‘cause he wasn’t all there “To me foreigners is « ful!” Skippy glowered. Percy 1. ¢ tucked away 1 very disgust- Crosby. Our Grudge Against Spain ¢ Spanish Inquisition. he Spanish War. panish Influenza. 19.26—"Valeneia.” She: 1 Twink THIS siTuATE SMILE: As nervous as a dry officer making his first sale. if A Truthful Invitation N view of the embarrassing fact that a large number of desirable persons have declined Mr. and Mrs. Angus MeWhirr Are constrained to request the doubtful pleasure Of your comp: At a disappointingly small dance At Angus Manor On Thursday evening, August the twelfth At nine o'clock (No gentleman will arrive before cleven, of course). A limited amount of Scotch will be served. Those who cannot afford to bring their own are requested to go light on the host’s supply. RS.V.P. Lloyd Mayer. Waterwise OTHER, may I go out to swim?” Darling Daughter of 1926. “Daughter, go as far as you like,” replied the Prac- tical Parent of even date, “only for goodness’ sake keep y from that silly old Channel. That Channel busi- —as a career, I mean. Hang your clothes, if you have any, on a hickory limb or something see some one of these big Broadway producers. always on the look-out for new talent. Just pull in your , cars and forget the Channel, dearic. If you must swim, do your swimming where the big fish arc.” inquired the a The Thinkers IN MEXICO Is PERFECTLY shocking! He: so vo 1. y AND DANCE. comicbooks.com