Life, 1927-01-13 · page 17 of 39
Life — January 13, 1927 — page 17: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains humorous anecdotes about automobile mishaps, reflecting early 20th-century car culture anxieties. **"The Cutest Thing My Auto Ever Did"** collects reader submissions about vehicle malfunctions—a Chevrolet that honks and self-lubricates, a car stalling at a railroad crossing, and a vehicle with a malfunctioning headlight. **"A 100-to-1 Shot"** jokes about three men in a smoking compartment, one of whom had never been divorced—presented as statistically improbable. **"From Year to Year"** mocks Agatha's predictable annual Round-the-World tours. The bottom cartoon, **"Why Not Sympathy Pennants for Motorists?"** depicts a disabled vehicle with flat tire, sarcastically suggesting motorists deserve sympathy emblems like soldiers displayed. The satire targets early automobiles' unreliability and motorists' various predicaments.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The Cutest Thing _ My Auto Ever Did HE other night I was sitting in the living-room listening to the radio when I heard a noise outside the door. The door opened slowly and my little Chevrolet, which is five years old, rolled slowly into the room. Then it reared itself up on its hind tires, put its front tires in my lap, looked up into my face and said, softly: “Honk! honk!” I rushed right out to the garage and gave it a quart of oil. J. Tuurssy Mistreen, Sautt Ste. Marie. The other day I was arrested for speeding. he policeman insisted I was going forty-five miles an hour. Turning to my car, I said: “Dodgiec, were you going forty-five miles an hour Like a flash, the bonnet shook violently from left to right (I had the motor on at the time), mean- :, “No, of course I wasn’t going five miles an hour.” Well, you should have seen the policeman’s face! Jor Ciprorti-Jones, c/o Crry Jatt, Bernarpsvitie, N. J. I have seen automobiles do some pretty cute things, but I never heard of one pulling a stunt like this. Just as I got to a railroad crossing, last Tucsday, my car stalled. I pressed on the self-starter, but nothing hap- pened. “I'll fix you, you — ——!" I said, and getting the crank out of the tool box, I started to crank the car. How- ever, with the first turn, the car kicked me clear across the cross- ing, just as the southbound limited came thundering by. What do you know about that? Morton P. Pennycracker, Twin Oaks, Texas. We had driven a long, long ways to watch a display of fireworks. Everybody was happy until it was all over, and then my youngest child, Edible, started to cry. “‘Daddy,” she said, “me want tum (some) more foireworks, bedad and_bejabers.” Just at that moment the radiator cap on the Maxwell blew off with a loud bang! and a cloud of scalding steam - enveloped us, At the same time, the gasoline tank caught fire. You can’t convince me that that Maxwell didn’t know what it was doing. Mrs. (Wivow) O'Franerty, Montavx Pont, L, I. The other night I was out in my Mercedes with a blonde. We went along a while and finally she said: “If you so much as try to kiss me, I'll get right out of this car and walk home.” Whereupon the front half of my car sort of turned around and the left headlight went on and off like it was winking at me! And darned if the darned car wasn’t perfectly right, at that! IsumagL Crave Goontz, Deraware Water Gar. Henry William Hanemann. “you MISSED HIM, ED— {DON’T B. you'RE HALF TRYING.” A 100-to-1 Shot 'HE three men in the smoking compartment were marveling over the fact that one of them was from Boston and did not like beans, another was from Reno and had never been divorced, while the third was from Detroit and had never ridden in a flivver. This group ceased to be unique when two more men joined the party. One from Herrin, the other from Chicago. Bill Sykes. was From Year to Year GATHA: Every January Algy + % goes on one of those Round-the- World tours. Harriett: notonous! How frightfully mo- WHY NOT SYMPATHY PENNANTS FOR MOTORISTS? comicbooks.com