Life, 1927-03-31 · page 31 of 35
Life — March 31, 1927 — page 31: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page announces *Life* magazine's "Alibi Contest," a humor competition asking readers to complete the sentence "Well, you see, it's this way...." with clever explanations for awkward situations. The accompanying illustration shows a car accident scenario: two vehicles have collided, with occupants emerging looking sheepish. The caption reads, "That reminds me of the old days before we changed to Kelly-Springfields"—a joke implying the speaker is fabricating an excuse (an "alibi") by blaming the accident on inferior tires rather than admitting fault. The contest itself is satire on human nature: readers compete to invent the most convincing lies or excuses. The Kelly-Springfields reference is product placement/advertising humor, common in *Life*. The small joke below about wishing to be a boy to travel at half-fare relates to children's ticket discounts—a nostalgic dig at aging. The contest ran through April 1927, with $50 first prize and five $10 runner-up prizes.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Conditions of the Great Alibi Contest (Please turn to page 9 for other information.) BAct weck we will publish a dif- ferent picture in the ALIBI TEST—the picture this week “ALIBI NUMBER The first 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’s this way....”’ Five second prizes of $10.00 h 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 cligible 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. Every single shect of manu- script submitted must be plainly marked with the contestant’s name and address. The Judges cannot un- dertake to return any of the manu- scripts submitted in this Contest. Ansv to ALIBI NUMBER SIXTEEN should be so marked, and sent to ALIBI CONTEST EDITOR, Live, 598 Madison Avenue, New York City. All an- swers to ALIBI NUMBER SIX- TEEN must reach Lrre’s office be- fore 12 noon on April 14, 1927. Announcement of the winners will be made in the issue of May 5, 1927. The Contest is open to all and is not limited to subscribers to Lire. Members of Lirr’s staff, and their families, are barred from competi- tion. Tickets, Please! “Dox’r you wish you were a boy again, Coher “Yes, T could travel half fare.” —Smith's Weekly (Sydney). COLES PHILLIPS has designed the cover, and GLUYAS WILLIAMS has done the center-page cartoon for the TRAVEL NUMBER, which ar- tives next week. “That reminds me of the old days before we changed to Kelly-Springfields.” comicbooks.com