Life, 1927-03-31 · page 14 of 35
Life — March 31, 1927 — page 14: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains humor about women's social roles and religious obligations. The main piece, "Just Between Us Girls," satirizes a woman's elaborate excuses for not giving up anything for Lent—she claims religious duty requires her to attend church work, distribute books, and attend services, using capitalized wordplay (like "SELfing" instead of "SELfing") to mock how she twists language to justify self-indulgence. The joke targets hypocrisy: she claims religious devotion while clearly prioritizing personal comfort and social activities over actual sacrifice. The cartoons below illustrate ancient history—Egyptians making bricks (4000 B.C.) and early comic strips (3999 B.C.)—presenting lighthearted historical humor unrelated to the main satire.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Life “T Y dear, I haven't given up a THING for LENT this year because I am doing CHURCH work— can you BEAR it? But I mean I ACtually AM because you see our MINister asked me to take this JOB dis- tributing these cute little BOOKS which are the New TEStament in SLANG or something and I mean I am disTRIButing them every DAY, my dear, after the NOONday SERvice, I mean I'm SELling them to people I KNOW, but I don’t go to the SERvice my- SELF, of course, because I mean I am so eMOtional that it is very bad for my NERVES because I mean it makes me MORbid to hear then PREACHing about SIN and everything, do you know what I MEA) But I simply MUST tell you about the MOST hectic thing that happened the other DAY when I was sort of CAS- urally distributing these little TEStament effects, because ACtually, my dear, it was Both Members of This Club HE Christian had been thrown to the lions. “*Lo, Leo,” he said cheerily. ‘Howza wife and well, Joc. Howya like the new chariot?” “Kayo, Leo. Goin’ to take out the Sheba to-night if we get through early. Wotsay?” “Well, Joe, I ain’t hungry. Live and let live is my motto.”” “They ain't more than a hundred and fifty thousand here to-night, anyhow. Not much of a gate for a title bout. Let’s give ‘em a ex- hibition for about four rounds. Then I'll foul you.” “AIL right, Joc. , Well, there goes the Don't Ask Me Another! No.5 bell.” Inquisitive Clara: pistincutsit Be- The battle of the TWEEN EDGAR A. GUEST AND EDNA first century was on. 8ST. VINCENT MILLAY. B.F.S. (Answer on page 30.) Discouraging, Isn’t It? IR FLINDERS PETRIE, Egyptologist, is to delve into a culture which existed in Palestine in 10,000 B. C. Twelve thousand years of culture and still “The Book of Etiquette” is one of the best sellers! SCREAMing, no less, because, you see, I had been READing this FRIGHTfully exciting ‘Three WEEKS’ book, which is practicably the ONly one of the CLASsics that 1 SE to it, and SUD- denly, my dear, I disCOVered that it was GONE and I had one of these little TEStament things in my hand inSTEAD! Well, my dear, I was FRANtic—I mean I was ready to roll over and BUTter myself with disMAY because, you sce, in a mo- ment of arbiTRAtion I had sold somebody who wanted one of the “Stament things this ‘Three 4000 B. C. THE EGYPTIANS DISCOVER THE ART OF BRICK-MAKING. ” book that I was reading: can you BEAR it, my dear?—but I mean I ACtually HAD and HON- estly, my dear, I was SIMply RAG- ing because I was RIGHT in the most exCITing part of this ‘Three WEEKS’—I mean I ACtually WAS!" Lloyd Mayer. The Cut-Up NURSE: The head surgeon is awfully comical, isn’t he? Anotuer Nurse: Yes, he has all the patients in stitches. 3999 Years and 11 Months B, C. THE FIRST COMIC STRIP IS MADE. comicbooks.com ee a ce