Life, 1927-03-03 · page 22 of 35
Life — March 3, 1927 — page 22: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This sketch satirizes a common Victorian social ritual: relatives obsessively analyzing a child's physical features to identify which family members he "takes after." The humor lies in the absurdity of the adults' competing claims—each relative insists Willie's nose, eyes, forehead, and chin belong to *their* side of the family, creating an exhausting parade of observations that reduces the boy to a collection of inherited parts. By the sketch's end, Willie—exhausted from being turned around repeatedly under scrutiny—plaintively asks his mother: "Isn't any part of my face my own?" This captures the joke's point: in their eagerness to claim genetic credit, the relatives have entirely erased Willie's individual identity. The title references "The Gay Nineties," suggesting this mocks outdated upper-middle-class social conventions of that era.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Cast or Crtaracters: JVillic, aged seven. Willie’s father. Willie’s mother. Several middle-aged rela- tions, Time: A rainy Sunday after- noon, Willie, unsuspecting, has just come home from Sunday School. “RHAT child looks more like his Uncle Bob every day. Just glance at his nose—if that isn’t the Throckmorton nose I'll lose my guess.” “Yes? Why, we think he has Ed’s nose. Lots of people have said so.” “Why, you're both wrong. The child’s nose is his Grandfather's. He has the Pennypacker eyes, too.” “You really think so? We say he The Gay Nineties WHAT HAS BECOME OF TIE DRESSY CHAP WItO USkD TO PRESHEN UP IIIS CELLULOID COLLAR IN THE HOTEL WaASi-ROOM? Willie’s Face has my ey What do you think, Aunt Caroline?” “Well, I’m not sure about his eyes and nose, but his mouth and ears are both Pennypacker. And he has the high Pennypacker forehead.” “Turn around, Willie, so the com- pany can sce you, Now, how can you ay his mouth is Pennypacker!” “Well, his chin is, any but his cheek-bones are yours, Bessie. “There's a trace of Throckmorton in the droop of his right eyelid, I should say.” “Perhaps, but you'll never con- vince me that his eyes are not Pennypacker through and through. Turn around again, Willic. There. Where the light strikes you.” (The solemn circle contracts its circumference; Willie looks around dismayed; there is no escape.) «8 ® Witutr (at bedtime): Mama! His Motner: What is it, dear? Wittie (getting it off his chest at last): Mama, tell me. Isn't any part of my face my own? A..F. HE States will spend four hun- dred million on highway improve- ment this year. Persons having stock in frankfurter corporations will do well to hold it. comicbooks.com