Life, 1926-10-28 · page 22 of 36
Life — October 28, 1926 — page 22: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**The top cartoon** depicts a romantic scene from the 1890s ("Gay Nineties"), captioned with a period cliché: the gallant suitor had to literally fight rivals with swords to win his beloved. The satire is nostalgic—contrasting old-fashioned romantic drama with modern courtship. **"Unpublished"** is satirical commentary on crime reporting. Life ridicules contemporary sensational journalism by listing *every* melodramatic crime-story cliché (bobbed bandits, jazz-mad generation, unwritten law, etc.), then jokes that such a crime couldn't actually exist because it contains "no such elements." The satire mocks how formulaic and overwrought 1920s-era true-crime coverage had become—every crime hit the same predictable narrative beats. **"The Motorist's License Department"** is a brief joke: a highway cop asks a motorist what activities he engages in (marriage, driving, camping, fishing), then absurdly asks him to open his "license trunk" as if licenses covered all life activities. It satirizes bureaucratic overreach and the proliferation of licensing requirements.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The Gay Nineties IN THE “YOU-JUST-KN OW-SILE-WEARS-"EM”” NINETIES THE GALLANT LOVER HAD TO FIGHT COLD STEEL TO WIN HIS LADY FAIR. Unpublished OXCE upon a time a fascinating crime was committed which contained no such elements as Love Tangle, Heart Balm, Erring Pastor, Domestic Triang Money, Bobbed Bandit, Curly Headed Tot, Hearty Last Breakfast, Poison Pen, Balked at Altar, Divorce Mill, Milk Gouger, Hero Cop, Bestial Deed, Lone Gun- man, High-Powered Car, Hue and Cry, Cordon of Police, Sleuths Comb City, Arrest Within Twenty-Four Hours, Smiling and Confident, Impassioned Plea, Sobbing Aged Mother, Vanished Gems, Master Mind, Night Club Habitué, Wall Street Plot, Drug Addict, Trusted Cash- ier, Congested Slums, Gambling Device, Pretty Choir Singer, Farewell Letter, Jazz-Mad Generation, Price of Shame, Flattened Bullet, Murder Gun, Unwritten Law, Broken Home, Held for Questioning, Alleged Confes- sion, Trusting Sweetheart, Positive Identification, Grim Prosecutor, Lynch Threats, Smiles Through Tears, Plea for Mercy, Bail Boost, Arbiters of Fate, Police Bru- tality, Important Development, Crisis in Case, Private Detectives, Ends of Justice, Fatal Episode, Scene of Crime, Women Barred from Courtroom, Unshaken Tes- timony, Race to Bedside, Material Witness or Intimi- dation Charged. Tip Bliss. (Note: This happened before the invention of print- ing.) . The Motorist’s License Department LE IGHWAY COP: Moror Tourist: Marriage, car, drive fishing, or hunting? Open the license trunk, Maria. Let me see your license. , camp-fire, comicbooks.com