Life, 1927-01-20 · page 29 of 34
Life — January 20, 1927 — page 29: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains several short humorous anecdotes typical of Life magazine's satirical format: **"Myopia"**: A woman uses her near-sightedness as a romantic test. She claims to see a pin fifty feet away to impress her boyfriend, then deliberately walks him toward it to "prove" her vision. The joke relies on the period's attitudes about courtship deception. **"Variant of an Old Yarn"**: A South African farmer mistakes a mirror for a portrait of his father, then his wife assumes it's evidence of an affair ("the cat he's after"). The humor depends on the farmer's unfamiliarity with mirrors—suggesting colonial-era stereotypes about rural or non-Western populations. **"Bring Civilization to Us?"**: A brief cartoon (artist credited to L'Intransigeant, Paris) showing colonial-era racial attitudes, with the caption implying irony about "civilization." The page also includes period advertisements for Life subscriptions and the Vinoy Park Hotel in Florida. The overall tone reflects early 20th-century humor conventions, including casual racial and gender stereotypes now considered offensive.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Myopia Sue was frightfully near-sighted and couldn't recognize things more than a yard y. Her lover didn’t know of jt vet, and she was going to make sure he didn’t find out. Before he called that evening, she placed a pin in a tree about fifty feet from a bench where she was certain they would sit. Sure enough, they strolled for some © in the garden and then he sug- gested sitting on the bench. “Oh, look at the pin in that tree over there!” she exclaimed, “Don't be foolish! You couldn't pos- sibly see a pin in that tree, Why, it’s 27 Variant of an Old Yarn To the back veldts of South Africa there penetrated one day a traveller, who possessed many treasures the old farmer had never seen before. Among them was a mirror. “Where did you get that,” asked the farmer, as he gazed into it; “that pic- ture of my father?” The traveller did not explain, but gave it to him as a souvenir, and it became his most cherished possession. Every day he looked at his “father’s picture,” and kept it carefully locked up, showing it to no one. But there came a day when he left his keys behind, and his wife, who had long wondered what it was he kept over fifty feet awa: : “You come with me, and Vl prove 2 so carefully, started rummaging and there's a pin.” found the mirror, she grabbed him by the hand and they “Oh,” she murmured, as she gazed into sturted for the tree. e it, “so that’s the cat he’s after, is it?” On the way, she stumbled over a cow. —Tit-Bits (London). —Princeton Tiger. “BRING CIVILIZATION TO US? AND WHO TAUGHT YoU TO A Little at a Time othing better for sluasish appetite than Abbott's DANCE, BWANA?” Accorpixc to & morning paper women I aaa —L'Intransigeant (Paris), are now buying their dresses on the in- stalment system. We seem to have seen In Chicago some of them wearing the first instal- “Wo is that fellow walking down the ment.—Punch. street? He looks like an arsenal.” Betz Baxer knows a Scotchman who “Oh, that's Two-Machine-Gun Hicks.” is saving up to be a miser, Ay professional drinker will try any- —New Orleans Times-Picayune. —New York Graphic. thing once too often.—Dallas News. re_is published every Thursday, simultaneously in the United States, The foreign trade suj plied "from Live's London Office, Rolls House, « Britain, Canada and British Possessions. Title registered in U. S. Breams Buildings, London, E. C. Canadian distributor, The American t Office. $5.00 a year in advance. Additional postage to foreign | News Company, Ltd., 386-388 St. James Street, Montreal, Canada, ries in the Postal Union, $1.60 a year; to Canada, 80 cents, Back No contributions wili be returned unless accompanied by stamped and ts cannot be supplied. addressed envelope. Live docs not hold itself responsible for the loss or text and illustrations in Live are copyrighted. For Reprint Rights "0mreturn of unsolicited contributions. reat Britain eprly to L ‘olls House, Breams Buildings, Fetter Notice of change of address should reach this office two weeks prior London, E. C. E to the date of issue to be affected. (The doctor says) “You Really Need It Every Week! Better Subscribe!” unlike other specialists, makes no charge for his advice, but you can rely on it, for all that. For a real mental toning up subscribe to Lire and keep in touch with the latest and brightest fun of the day, right in the original package. Accept no substitute, but insist upon having Lire with Its TH Vinoy Hotel is on beautiful Tampa Laugh on Every Page, for your cure. Try it for Bay, overlooking St. Petersburg’s yacht x year, or try our basins and waterfront park. In the heart of . the Gulf Coast’s greatest playground. New; Special Offer fireproof; 450 rooms with bath. Appoint- Enclosed find One Dollar (Canadian $1.20, Foreign ments, cuisine and service unexcelled. Man- $1.40). Send Lire for the next ten weeks to agement of Frank H. Abbott & Son. Write or wire for reservations. LIFE, 598 Madison Avenue, New_York finoy rar Ome Year $$ Canadian $5.80 St: Pesseting comicbooks.com