Life, 1927-02-24 · page 10 of 39
Life — February 24, 1927 — page 10: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three unrelated satirical pieces: **"Stranger" cartoon**: A postmaster and constable discuss a suspicious visitor, playing on small-town paranoia about outsiders. **"Nicety à la Mode"**: A comedic dialogue where a lady requests increasingly specific vegetables from her grocer ("Tony"), each qualified as "nice." The joke mocks genteel affectation and excessive politeness in social interactions. **"Just Between Us Girls"**: A long, breathless monologue by one woman to another, satirizing gossip culture. She denies spreading rumors about "MAbel" while doing exactly that—a classic ironic critique of female social hypocrisy and cattiness. **"What It Was"**: A brief joke about a man misremembering his wife's reception date. The page lampoons class pretension, small-town suspicion, and especially women's social behavior through exaggeration and irony.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Stranger: sO YOU ARE TIE POSTMASTER, STOREKEE JUSTI DP THE PEACE AND CONSTABLE OF TIIIs TOWN? Native: yassin! you MIGUT SAY I'M TITER MUSSOLINI OP BUCKEYE CORNERS, Nicety 4 la Mode I ADY OF THE HOU at back door): What have e, you this morning th; nice? Toxy: Oh, this-a morn’, toes, carrots, spinach Lavy: If it’s nice spinach, I have some ver’ nice toma- you may .bring me some spinach, And, Tony, are your radishes nice? Toxy: Oh, my radishes ver’ nice, so nice. Lavy: If they're nice, bring me some, but be very sure they are r What kind of tomatocs have you? Tony: Oh, I have some ver’ nice tomatoes. Oh, such-a nice Lavy: Well, bring me some tomatoes, if they're nice. How are the carrots? Tony: Oh, my carrots ver’ nice, ever'’thing nice. Lavy: Very well, Tony; spinach, radishes, some to- matoes and carrots, but they must all be nice. Lu.G. What It Was ILLIS: When was the first frost last year? Giuuis: September eighth. “Are you sure?” “Positive. That was the date of my wife’s reception.” newspapers) : “N Y DEAR, IN NG YET mean I ACtually "ER DID, because I mean I simply NEVER gossip as you KNOW, my dear, and T mean whoRVER TOLD you I said that about MAbel is simply a HELL-cat bo DAMNED LIAR, that’s ALL I've got to S/ her because I HONestly VOW I NEVER said a to her about MAbel bveause I mean I simply aDORE Mabel and I mean I ALways stick UP for her because I mean I've ALways been TERribly FOND of her as you KNOW, my dear, even when she said POISonous things about me, I » when some FOUL person told her I said something perfectly VILE about her which I simply VOW I NEVE cause I mean you KNOW, my dear, I NEVER gossip I mean I think it just GE TS you into with people, But ANYways, I BET it was who told you I made that perfectly VILE remark about MAbel, my dear, because I mean she's a PERfect little HE cat and I mean we've AL- ways LOATHED cach other because I mean she KNOWS I SIMply aBOMINATE her, my dear, because I mean she's the WORLD'S WORST GOSsip and I mean she simply spends her enTIRE TIME saying simply POISonous THINGS about practically EVery- body she KNOWS, my dear—I_ mez an she ACtu- ally DOES Lloyd Mayer. Young Artist of the “We Moderns” School (reading GOSH, THE CRITICS DON’T SEEM TO KNOW WHAT TO MAKE OF MY PICTURE. Visiting Friend: coNGRratULATIONs, MY Boy — you Wave arrived! ROFESSOR: Mention a recent addition to the by- roducts of petroleum. r—war-scares. comicbooks.com