Life, 1927-02-17 · page 23 of 34
Life — February 17, 1927 — page 23: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page from *Life* magazine contains satirical commentary on 1920s literary culture and gender double standards. **Book Notes section**: Satirizes pretentious literary figures and trends—authors who namedrop famous writers, publishers rejecting foreign works as inferior, and the glut of mediocre war memoirs. The joke about "Law and Order Day" references Prohibition, mocking compliance by noting someone follows it 50% (ordering from a bootlegger). **"The Double Standard" essay** by L. Mae Cooley is the page's main commentary: it exposes how identical behaviors receive opposite moral judgments based on gender. A man drinking is "funny"; a woman is "degraded." A man is "overworked"; a woman "worried herself into it." This reflects 1920s sexism—the era's newly independent women (flappers) faced constant moral criticism while men received social leeway. The cartoons illustrate these hypocrisies visually, including a woman being asked to lend her engagement ring casually—suggesting how men exploited women's romantic vulnerability. The "Dictionary" section provides humorous fake definitions mocking contemporary jargon and politics.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Life Book Notes (What Some of Us Would Like to See in Our Favorite Literary Sheets) i MAvRICe PALANQUIN, who once saw Anatole Il France passing on the other side of the street, writes from abroad to say that he has not the remotest F intention of writing a book of recollections about his D happy hours and intimate discussions with the Master. ): Unveiled,” this week's translation from the Scandinavi- an, has a pref- ace by Ernest Boyd in which he states that the book is vastly in- ferior to the general local product and that altogether too much at- tention is being paid to third-rate foreign im- portations. It is rumored that Lewis Standish, who is writing a book on the life of Paul Revere, knows nothing of psy- choanalysis and has been totally unable to find anything to dis- prove the heroic tra- dition, so that the book vill be a straight factual biography. Since practically all the verse published this year was terrible, Armstrong A. Murray has decided to postpone his annual, “Best Poems of the Year,” until next year, when he may have better luck. “Scurrilous Scandal,” the new volume of Society | gossip appearing under the Seltzer-Beer imprint, has its | author's name on the title-page. He says he wants every ene to know who wrote the book. | “Shoulder Arms!” the Fvew book about the late war, has nothing sensa- ‘tional to say about life in s and does not tim to tell the truth at last. | Itis merely a collection of local - color sketches of France during 1917-1918. In a recent interview with the brilliant young expatriate, Thurston Fryde, it was learned that he lives in France because itis so much cheaper to get drunk in Paris than in New York. Simonetta. “ow vip YOU OBSERVE LAW AND ORDER DAY?” “oll, ANOUT FIFTY PER CENT.; I PLACED AN ORDER WITH MY BOOTLEGGER.” (ALLER: I'd like to see the doctor, please. Orvice Artenpant: Yes, sir—professionally or about a prescription? SUFFERER FROM IN- SOMNIA COUNTING THE SPOTS BEFORE HIS EYES TO INDUCE SLEEP. Her Brother: say, sis, LEND ME YOUR ENGAGEMENT RING JUST FOR A COUPLE OF WEEKS, WILL Y The Double Standard F a man attends a club it’s because he needs social recreation. If a woman docs, it’s because she loves to gossip. If a man smokes it’s because he gets solid comfort out of it. If a woman uses cigarettes it’s to be smart. If a man has an accident with his car it’s the other fellow’s fault. If a woman gets her car tangled up it's because she’s a poor driver. If a man gets drunk it’s funny. If a woman does she's degraded. If a man is nervous at the end of a day, he’s over- worked. If a woman complains, she’s worried herself into it over nothing. If a man overdraws his bank made a mistake. of business. If a man refuses to adopt the new styles he’s con- servative. If a woman does, she’s wld-fashioned. L. Mae Cooley. punt, the bank has If a woman docs it she has no sense Dictionary putaTEe—to come into a country. Monopoly—A speech made by one person, Spirits—What you put your feet into when you sit on a horse. Idiomatic—Cuckoo. Nauseate—To put up a candidate. Acrobat—A chine restaurant. Catalepsy—A waterfall. slot - ma- comicbooks.com