Life, 1927-02-24 · page 35 of 39
Life — February 24, 1927 — page 35: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page features **Life's "Alibi Contest,"** a participatory humor feature where readers submit clever explanations for captioned illustrations. The main cartoon (Alibi Number Eleven) depicts two mechanics at a gas station examining a car's engine. One says the gas line is clear and the car should finish its trip "unless you have a blowout." The driver responds he's not worried because he has Kelly-Springfield tires. The joke's point: The driver confidently dismisses the mechanic's warning about mechanical failure by asserting his tire brand's reliability—a **non-sequitur** that misses the actual concern. Readers were invited to supply humorous explanations starting with "Well, you see, it was this way..." for why this absurd confidence made sense. The contest offered $50 weekly prizes for the cleverest alibis (maximum 25 words). This was typical of Life's interactive entertainment during the 1920s, encouraging reader participation and boosting circulation.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The Great Alibi Contest (Continued from page 11) H. P. Hae, Hanover, N. Il.; Autan Keerer, Ottawa, Canada; Erarr H, Mayer, Pittsburgh, Pa.; Motu E. Patest, Dorchester, Mass. Conditions of the Contest Read these carefully: EACH week we will publish a dif- ferent picture in the ALIBI CONTEST—the picture this week being marked “ALIBI NUMBER ELEVEN.” rst prize of $50.00 will be awarded each week to the contestant who, in the opinion of the Judges, furnishes the cleverest and most con- vineing conclusion to the sentence which starts, “Well, you see, it was this way..." Five second prizes of $10.00 cach will be awarded to the runners-up. Answers must not exceed twenty- five words in length; this word limit, however, is not intended to include the captions under the Contest pic- tures as originally published in Lire. There is no limit to the number of answers to each Contest picture that any one contestant may submit. Nor is it necessary for a contestant to submit answers to more than one of the Contest pictures to be eligible for a prize. The Judges will be three of the Editors of Lire. In the event of a tie, the full amount of the prize will be awarded to cach of the tying contestants. Answers should be typewritten or clearly written on one side of the paper. The Judges cannot under- take to return any of the manu- scripts submitted in this Contest. Answers to ALIBI NUMBER ELE \ should be so marked, and sent to ALIBI CONTEST EDI- TOR, Lire, 598 Madison Avenue, New York City. All answers to ALIBI NUMBER ELEVEN must reach Lirr’s office before 12 noon on March 10, 1927. | Announcement of the winners will be made in the issue of March 31, 1927. The Contest is open to all and is not limited to subscribers to Lire. Members of Lire’s staff, and their families, are barred from compcti- tion. The Story of His Life Tue other day Small Sister came home from school proudly flourishing a paper. “It's a composition about Socceratees,” she said, handing it to mother with a grand air, “Teacher told us about him and then we wrote it. You can read it if you want to.” And mother read: “Socrates was a great man, He was sort of a tramp. He told everybody what to do and they gave him poison.”"—New York Sun. “There y'are, Cap, the gas line’s clear now and you ought to finish your trip without any more trouble—unless you have a blowout.” ‘I'm not worrying about blowouts, with Kelly-Springfields on all around.” comicbooks.com