Life, 1926-12-09 · page 30 of 45
Life — December 9, 1926 — page 30: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes printing-industry mishaps through the fictional character "Ralph" (pronounced "Rafe"), a mischievous goblin blamed for every workplace problem. The satire targets how printers, publishers, and editors habitually blame a scapegoat rather than accepting responsibility. Ralph causes typographical errors, labor disputes, lost copy, messy proofs, and general chaos. The repeated refrain—"RALPH (pronounced 'Rafe'), [some vice]"—mocks how workers and management alike invoke his name whenever anything goes wrong, from strikes to printing errors to misspellings. The joke reflects early 20th-century workplace frustrations: rather than addressing real systemic issues (wages, working conditions, management competence), everyone blames an imaginary troublemaker. It's a satirical commentary on workplace dysfunction and the human tendency to externalize blame. The bottom section, "Woman and Sport," shows unrelated cartoons about automobile racing and waiters—typical magazine filler content.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Our Foolishg$pijze Contemporaries “17'S A LOVELY MATCIL. YOU CAN CONSIDER IT WITIE EVERY CONFI DENCE. THE PATER DID SIX MONTHS IN JAM YOR LIPTING TEN NEVER GAVE Blas (Pari Tar we Le Ruy Ralph (Pronounced ‘‘Rafe’’) ALPH t (pronounced “Ra fe??)— ? in all of these winters e has told you his name?— Ralph is a goblin who lives at the print- er’s, Some one who's always to blame. He eats up the ink and he ties up the presses, He mixes the messes, He trips up the foreman (the scandalous japer!), Bewilders the paper, Tips over the pails till the floor is all sloppy, Misplaces the galleys and loses the copy, While publishers | worry and editors chafe Because of the antics of Ralph (pro- nounced “Rafe”). paste in unspeakable copy boy, smudges the ALPH (pronounced “Rafe”), irre- pressibly spiteful- No one has ever said why— Jumbles our beautiful type in the fri; ful, Hopeless confusion called “y “Aut Scissors aut Nullus” Debaser of manners, corrupter of mor- als, His guile is the quarrels; Inciting disputes about hours and wages With bull-headed misunderstandings and r The Apple of Discord apples !— He casts in the conclaves of bosses and of uncountable whole barrels of AML strikes are fomented by (pronounced “Rafe Ralph ALPHL (pronounced “Rafe"), that insidious terror, Fitfully—no one knows how Hatches a black typographical error, Starting the deuce of a row— An error so shocking I can't even quote The comp, will be jiggered if he ever set ‘The stonemen abet it, The proofreader shows that he the ; The thing simply happened like break- fast or dinn But Robert and‘ Lafe, Will quake for the mischief of Ralph (pronounced “Rafe"). an prove that they didn't wasn't mothy, Michael and ALPIL (pronounced deserving of curses— No one can measure our wrongs Harbors a Philistine hatre Madrigals, lyrics and of verses, Woman and Sport “Rafe"), the The Waiter (on his day off): ot) GYPTIANS MUST HAVE BEEN GOOD AT DEALING THEM Orr THE ARM. Lustige Blatter (Berlin). He punches a stanza and gives jt the staggers; Slips in a few asterisks * * * *, signs $$ $, daggers ¢ ¢ *. With maybe a colon : and dash — for good measure, Mispelling a wurd plezure; He varies the spacing to look better, He turns up a quad Qf and reverses a letyer. A masterpiece even like this isn't safe From that reprehensible Ralph (pro- nounced “Rafe”) ! dollar with maulevolint make it —Arthur Guiterman, in New York Times, Rah! Rah! Rah! Hanvano will play Pennsylvania next year instead of Princeton. This will necessitate the changing of that Lam- poon joke to read: “Are you a Pennsylvania ma “No, that was a couple of C ate soldiers."—New York Sun, TO-MORROW —Guerin Meschino (Milan). comicbooks.com