Life — December 23, 1926 — page 8: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "Just Between Us Girls" - Life Magazine Page Analysis This page satirizes early 20th-century women's magazine beauty culture. The main cartoon features two women gossiping about a "BEAUTY cult" promoting facial exercises to achieve perfect faces. Lloyd Mayer's commentary mocks the absurdity of this trend—the cult claims "never lose an opportunity to WORK the FACIAL muscles" and promises youth through constant face-making. The satire targets how beauty magazines prey on women's insecurities by promoting exhausting, pointless routines. Phrases like "Exercise Your FACE" are presented as ridiculous commands that magazines push to make ordinary women feel inadequate. The accompanying items ("The Society Editor Goes Crazy," "Extra Time," "So It Seems") offer related social satire about marriage, leisure, and class pretension among the era's affluent set.