Life, 1927-03-10 · page 25 of 38
Life — March 10, 1927 — page 25: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This 1920s *Life* magazine page contains three satirical pieces: **"If Elevator Service Were Just So"** (top): Mocks the casual, overly-familiar chitchat of elevator operators who treated their job as social conversation rather than professional service. The humor lies in the operator treating a passenger ride like a personal outing—offering comfort, suggesting destinations, playing billiards—absurdly blurring professional boundaries. **"Just Between Us Girls"** (right): A woman complains about college-educated young men who presume to decide what "type" of girls to marry. She mocks their arrogance and specific criteria (wanting a wife "like my mother"), satirizing both male entitlement and the pretensions of college-educated youth during the era. **"Rural Chaff"** and **"Too True"** (bottom): Brief, simple jokes—one about a farm hired man's improvised wheelbarrow light; one about amateurs in theater. The formatting emphasizes key words through capitalization, a stylistic choice of the era meant to add comedic punch through visual emphasis rather than content.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
If Elevator Service Were Just So TOR MAN: Going up? PassENGE Life SUST BETWEEN US GIRLE Come on, I'll take ‘ot putting you out any? Evevatorn Man: Don't be silly—I don't fill up the whole car, do 1? Come on, jump in. Passexcer: Well, well, this is a comfortable car. What do you pay for a car like this, now? Erevator M n: Well, it depends. I turned in my old car, and then I have a friend in the Otis Elevator ou know, one thing and another. Going much farther? ator M: <: Oh, I won't be going much out of ay if I drop you off where you want to go, I guess. By the way, now that you mention it, where are you going? Passe: solutely decide. Exevator Man (sotto voce): Tried the fifteenth floor? Passencer: No, can’t say I have. N (whispers): Mumblemumblemumble. : Gee, that sounds great. line for that fifteenth floor, will you? Have you there before you can say Just make yourself comfortable for a few Magazines over there in the corner, and here’s d billiard table. Exevator Man: “knife.” minutes. a quarter-si Passencrr: Never had a cue in my hand in my life! Do you play contract bridge ? Erevaton Man: Not any more. My wife and I lost seventy dollars one night at the club... .Here we are, coming into the fif- teenth. By George, it hasn't changed a bit since the last time I was here, either. I bet you'll like it. Passencer: If I don’t I'll send you a nasty letter about it, vou bet, ha-ha-ha, Well, so long, old man. Thanks awfully for the lift. Etevaton Man: Don't be silly —I was glad enough to have you along, and don't forget to use my name if you have any trouble getting in. So long. Paul Gould. Rural Chaff H!: Thet hired man o° Yours is sure an ac- hound, Si. 31: Yep, now he’s rigged up a spot light for his wheelbarrow. ser: Well, I've thought of several places, and to tell you the truth I haven't quite made up my mind. Guess I'll see the wife first, too, before I ab- my dear, is SIMply What's it like? Just make a bee- dear, that old-F/ Like to try a few shots? Trate Straphanger: say, BROTHER, WHO ARE YA PUSH- ? 1NG? Second Straphanger: 1 DUNNO. WHAT’s YOUR NAME? 23 “MPHE conCEIT of some of these COLlege YOUTHS, NAUseous—I mean it gives me a FEELing of POSitive reVULsion bec think they are ACtually the MOST conCEITed IDiots in the WORLD, my dear, because I mean they think that just because they are at COLlege they have a right to deCIDE what sort of GIRLS are the RIGHT girls to MARry, do you know what I MEAN? I m have deCIDed at some POISONous little uni effect way out WEST, somewheres, f'r INst SHioned girls are the only girls to MARry—can you BEAR it, my dear? Well, I mean, e I mean I these abSURD litt iots at this NAU little COLlege place had a VOTE or something on this BURNing QUEStion of MATrimony and I mean some of the ANswers they GAVE, my dear, would simply KNOCK you for a row of LIPsticks, my dear, because I mean ONE of these BOOBS answered, ‘I HOPE to marry some one as like my MOTHer as POSsible’—I ASK you, my dear, did you EVer HEAR of such aBYSmal DUM Bness?—and a- NOTHer MILKy HALF- wit wrote, ‘LOVE knows no TYP ‘m WAITing for LOVE’—well, I mean, HONestly, my dear, 1 think he will keep ON waiting inDEFinitely — I mean I ACtually DO!” Lloyd Mayer. Too True TEACHER: Ruby, what do you call a play given by non-professionals? Rusy: A _ premature play. comicbooks.com