Life — January 27, 1927 — page 12: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Explanation for Modern Readers This satirical comic from *Life* magazine depicts a husband using military smoke screens—a famous World War I defensive tactic—to hide his infidelity from his wife. The sequence shows: the wife notices her husband's suspicious behavior; he deflects her concerns; she continues questioning him; finally, he creates an actual smoke screen (referencing the war technology) that obscures her view, allowing him to escape with another woman unseen. The satire mocks both marital deception and how men might exploit contemporary wartime references to evade accountability. It's a domestic humor piece that assumes readers would find the absurdist application of military innovation to marital problems funny, while commenting on gender dynamics and male infidelity in the era.