Life, 1926-11-25 · page 7 of 44
Life — November 25, 1926 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes early radio broadcasting and its personalities. The main cartoon shows a traffic cop at a church wedding behaving like a radio announcer—demanding to "see your license" from the bride and groom like he's checking credentials for air time, treating the sacred ceremony as a broadcast performance. The humor targets radio announcers' perceived pretentiousness and their tendency to inject themselves into situations inappropriately. The caption "She: there's just one thing I don't like about the radio—it has absolutely no sex appeal!" suggests contemporary criticism that radio personalities, despite their fame, lacked the visual charisma of stage performers. The page also includes jokes about radio call letters, fictional radio shows, and the medium's growing cultural prominence in what appears to be the 1920s-early 1930s.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
(/ haan ts, The Loudspeaker (cheerily): "1.10, rotxs! The Radio Announcer Goes Crazy “THROUGH the courtesy of the Apfelbaum Trip- hammer Company all the little tots will hear build your house on Watercress Knolls where God's sun- shine Miss Josie Glotz the sweetest songbird for a small initial down-payment and the rest in convenient monthly instalments ‘Valencia’ accompanied by the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra have come to Fuddledale the mod- ern Garden of Eden by courtesy of the Excelsior Sus- pender and Truss Corporation with xylophone obligato it is essential for the preservation of the Union that we eat more shredded pineapple station WH A M the voice of Loppheim Tennessee and now Mme. Galli-Curci will entertain you with a talk on what to do with the kiddies’ adenoids remember a little buys a lot up in the Cockleburr Hill subdivision Brahms’ rd Symphony arranged for cornet and trombone by courtesy of P. Henry Smuggins president of the Smuggins Aromatic Fertilizer Company you need no money only a little courage to own a four-acre peanut ranch and as an encore ‘Mother Machree.’ ” Robert Lord. Distinction 1G: Betty and Lou are both grafters, don’t you think? Wac: Yes, but at least Betty makes you feel she’s taking lunch with you instead of from you. " E title of my next book,” said Bruce Barton, after his interview with the White House Spokesman, ‘will be, ‘The Man No- body Votes For.’ ” Announcers I'd Like to Meet * “NT OW, folkses.” “I'm going to spell this name for you—it sounds like a sneeze to me.” “Now this is for the kiddies, and all you big people—” “If you liked this program, just write in and tell us. We aren't mind-readers, you know.” “She sure can tickle the ivories, if you know what I mean.” “Nightie-night.” *Marquis of Queensberry rules. Weighing in at 160 pounds. R. H. F. He Was Just His Natural Self HE traffic cop was head usher at his best friend's church wedding. “This is a one-way aisle,” he said to the bride’s great- aunt, who had started out for a drink of water. “Back up!” “What do you mean, running past the signal?” he snapped at the bridegroom's cousin. “Keep in line there,” he growled to the woman who had made the match. “You may be a lady but your mudguards don't show it.” When the bride entered on her father’s arm, he growled: “Show your license or I'll run you both in.” Restored to con- sciousness in time to see the guide ropes falling, he whispered: “GO!” T. L. M. She: TuweERe’s JUST ONE THING 1 DON’T LIKE ABOUT THE RADIO—IT HAS ABSOLUTELY NO SEX APPEAL! comicbooks.com