Life, 1926-09-09 · page 21 of 40
Life — September 9, 1926 — page 21: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a memorial cartoon marking the final appearance of characters created by Thomas S. Sullivant, a Life magazine artist who died August 8 after 35 years contributing to the publication. The cartoon depicts a chaotic street scene where a lone traffic cop attempts to direct a massive crowd of humanity—children, adults, animals, and various figures—crossing a street. The sheer overwhelm of the situation (emphasized by the steep diagonal composition and dense crowd) illustrates the absurdist humor Sullivant was known for. The "First Traffic Cop" likely references early automobile-era urban management challenges, a contemporary concern when traffic policing was newly professionalized. The tribute acknowledges Sullivant's gift for inspired laughter through his satirical depiction of modern life's comic incongruities—here, one authority figure confronting impossible civic disorder.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
——4— e Fi Traffic Cop Zs se lz a at ~ : pepe | This picture marks the last appearance in Lire of the characters that have emanated from the vivid imagina- tion of Thomas S. Sullivant, whose death, on August 8, ended a career of thirty-five years as a Lire artist. Mr. Sullivant’s work is done, but the laughter that it has inspired will not soon be forgotten, comicbooks.com