Life, 1926-12-09 · page 34 of 45
Life — December 9, 1926 — page 34: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three distinct pieces: **"Pathfinders"** is an AT&T advertisement equating Alexander Graham Bell with Christopher Columbus as discoverers/pioneers. It argues the Bell System's ongoing research and engineering represents continued American progress and justifies the company's monopoly as providing world-standard telephone service. **"The Visiting Personage Goes Crazy"** is satire mocking a pretentious European visitor (likely a Russian or Eastern European aristocrat, given references to "Pazootsky"). The figure complains about America while simultaneously praising it and boasting of their own poverty and humble travels with "four or five servants." The joke satirizes foreign intellectuals' condescension toward American culture and wealth, and their performative modesty. **"Villanelle"** and **"A Perfect Evening"** are brief humorous pieces—one about Christmas card clichés, the other a joke about arriving late to theater. The page also includes advertisements for Whiting-Adams brushes. The satirical content reflects early 20th-century American attitudes toward European pretension and immigrant intellectuals.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Pathfinders An advertisement of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company CuristopHer CoLumBus discovered America, thus adding a new world to the old. Alexander Graham Bell discovered the telephone, giving the nations of the earth a new means of communication. Each ven- tured into the unknown and blazed the way for those who came after him. The creating of a nation- wide telephone service, like the developing of a new world, opened new fields for the pathfinder and the pio- neer. The telephone, as the modern American knows it, has been made possi- ble by the doing of a multitude of things in the realms of research, engineering and business administration. Its continued advance- ment requires constant effort in working upon a_never- ending succession of seem- ingly unsolvable problems. Because it leads the way in finding new pathways for telephone development, the Bell System is able to pro- vide America with a nation- wide service that sets the standard for the world. The Visiting Personage Goes Crazy “ HE marvelous skyline of cee 4 New York your typically American hustle and energy the un- failing generosity which has so often come to the aid of my poor suffering country of course you are a bit raw and crude at present only a paltry ten million which means little to you but everything to us there’s nothing wrong with the American girl she’s witty charming and beautiful we are a nation of artists money means nothing to us I consider your Pro- hibition a complete success not a cent of this goes to me personally such vast distances between your cities in time you may produce an artist al- most the equal of our great Pazoot- sky your wonderful subways I may accept an offer from your great cinema producers but the money will be paid to the widows and orphans of my poor suffering nation I travel simply with only four or five servants and your government would be per- fect except for a few faults which I shall mention in the series of news- paper articles...” R. L. Villanelle Of a Man Who Tried to Select a Christmas Card MERRY Christmas bright ... To you and yours from me and mine... shepherds on night... and a When that holy With all good wishes for a right .., With radiance the star did shine .., A merry Christmas and a bright... hese berries red are just a mn When shepherds on that holy night ... . This card I'm white ... season's line ... A merry Christmas and a bright... sending you is The greetings And then there shone a heavenly light ... there, fine ... shepherds on night ... Hello, kid, I hope you're When that holy This card of mine is just a slight ... May happiness and love divine A merry Christmas and a bright... When shepherds on that holy night ... E. B.W. A Perfect Evening NARS. KAYLOR: Was * theatre party a success? Mrs. Taytor: Yes, indeed. We arrived in time to see almost all of the last act. your at all to pick out a gi brush! BRUSHES with the famous stamp of WHITING'S ce ADAMS oa the handle guide the besianer to | the bea brush selection juit as surely as the feel of the bridles tells the story to the professional painter. WHITING-ADAMS| BOSTON BRUSH MAKERS FOR 118 YEARS comicbooks.com