Life, 1926-12-02 · page 37 of 81
Life — December 2, 1926 — page 37: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This 1920s *Life* magazine page satirizes the absurdity of pocket diaries marketed to busy men. The main article mocks these leather "diaries" as Christmas gifts by highlighting their useless reference content—outdated census data, obscure measurement conversions, eclipse forecasts for 1925, and postal rates to obscure Caribbean territories. The joke is that these practical gifts are actually impractical clutter masquerading as usefulness. The cartoon below shows an apartment landlord refusing to rent to someone with a dog, illustrating period housing discrimination. A side column includes brief jokes about unemployment during economic hardship and dating customs, typical of the era's casual humor about class struggle and courtship rituals. The satire targets consumer culture and the marketing of pseudo-useful products to busy professionals—a timeless target, though the specific references (metric conversions, Caribbean postage) are historically specific to the 1920s.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
ERE is a dandy original idea for a Christmas present! For the first tine there comes a solution to that ever-pressing problem: “What shall 1 give Him for Christmas?” The answer is, one of those new red leather “diaries” which the smarter stationery shops have added to their holiday stock this season. Besides the space for the daily record of one’s “doings,” these pocket diaries contain a great mass of valuable informa- tion. The first page we turn to is a memo- randum of “Things Easily Forgotton’’: No. of Bicycle. : No, of Works. os Contents of Watch Case see Size of Drawers. Size of Cuffs... Size of Umbrella Another great help for the busy man is the list of principal cities according to the census of 1900. New York is still far ahead, with 80,000 souls. Akron, Ohio, comes next, followed COMPETITION 18 THE LIFE OP TRADE. For the Busy Man by Paris, France, with a population of 12,750. In another section of this handy book we find a list of tables showing you how to tell the time from the tide. And the ex- planation of “Weights and Mea- sures’ is indispensable: “1 dram = 3 scruples; 2 pints = 1 English bushel; 3 roods = 1 perch.” “WHY, THESE APARTMENTS AREN’T FIT TO KEEP A DOG IN!” “BUT WE DON’T ALLOW Docs.” It is hardly necessary to mention other features, such as the forecast of eclipses for 1925, the explanation of the metric system, foreign coin- age, poisons and antidotes, and “What to Do When Bitten by a Mad Dog.” The new postage rules, how- ever, are important. It seems that, beginning January 1, 1922, Uncle Sam will charge 2 cents per ounce on let- ters to British Guiana, Barbados, and the Leeward Islands. So if a friend in Barbados, you're going to write to you'd better do it in a Jiffy! N. R. Jaffray. Out of Work Again MES. WAGGS: Poor Mrs. Luggs has a hard time of it. Mrs. Tacos: What now? Mrs. Waa store where her hus- band plays Santa Claus burned down last night. The EFORE taking any girl on a pet- ting party a man ought to make sure she’s warm enough, comicbooks.com