Life, 1926-11-25 · page 14 of 44
Life — November 25, 1926 — page 14: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This illustration satirizes a 1890s New York dining trend. The caption explains that Mr. Raines (a recognizable figure of the era, likely a politician or public official) promoted "Sunday meals" with alcoholic beverages in restaurants—a way to circumvent laws restricting alcohol sales on Sundays. The cartoon shows a crowded establishment where sandwiches appear on each table, ostensibly making the alcohol a secondary accompaniment to food, thereby technically legal. The satire targets both the transparent loophole and the "dull Sunday" drinkers who exploited it, with some patrons apparently misinterpreting or abusing the arrangement. The page also includes a separate humor section titled "Modernizing the First Reader," offering absurdist questions (like "The handsome student has a blind date with my uncle's comely daughter") parodying old schoolbook exercises.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The Gay Nineties BACK IN THE THROW-AWAY-TIE-KEY NINETIES MR, RAINES PUT OVER TIF BRIGHT IDEA HOULD HAVE THE 8 WHEREUPON, PROMPTLY AT MIDNIC RED UPON EACH LITTLE TABLE OF TI WHICH WAS SUPPOSED TO DO VALIANT DUTY AS TIE “MEAL A DULL SUNDAY V E S BRIGH CRPRETED TH Modernizing the First Reader ED FOR TI st OP-TO-THE-LAW AND TOOK THE PROPERTY SANDWICH AT ITS FACE VALUE, LIQUID STIMULUS AS T SATURDAY, AN AL~ COZY ROOM BEIIND ” UNTIL MONDAY ERIOUS DRINKERS (A Suggestion for Writers of High-School Textbooks) 1 THE powderpuff of my sister is * on the table with the hip-flask of my brother. 2. Where is the cigarctte ot the beautiful flapper? 3. The handsome student has a blind date with my uncle’s comely daughter. . 4. The tall sheik and the happy dumbbell are not relatives. are not even friends. 5. Give me the large and beautiful saxophone, 6. The bob of my little sister is more beautiful than the bob of my aged mother. 7. Who has put the hooch in the punch-bowl on the table? They 8. Are not my uncle's brother and your aunt's sister petters? 9. No, but my father’s cousin and your mother’s gardener are great neckers. 10. The roadster of my kind father is at the small house of the lovable friend of my brother Charles. Edmund JJ. Kiefer. comicbooks.com)