Life, 1927-04-07 · page 35 of 59
Life — April 7, 1927 — page 35: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This humorous piece satirizes tourists' unrealistic travel expectations. The column contrasts what visitors *plan* to accomplish (visiting cathedrals, shopping, sightseeing across European cities) with what they *actually* do—primarily sitting at cafés like Closerie des Lilas and Café de la Paix, watching passersby and getting drunk. The joke exposes the gap between grand travel ambitions and lazy reality: instead of touring Vienna, Budapest, and the Rhine, tourists idle away days people-watching and socializing. The cartoon below shows well-dressed tourists at Longchamps races. A separate brief joke mocks modern social trends: a groom doesn't kiss his bride at the wedding—he offers her a cigarette, suggesting changing courtship customs among the upper classes. The piece gently ridicules both tourists and the leisure-class lifestyle of the era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The Ideal Tour What You Plan to Do and What You Do ENTATIVE schedule as planned before sailing— May 21: Boulonia arrives Cherbourg. Spend night in Paris. Actual schedule as it worked out — Boulonia one day late. Spend night on tender, standing up. Tentative schedule—May 22: Sunday. Cathedral in morning. Pére-Lachaise in afternoon. Look up uncle and aunt. actual schedule—May 22: Spend day in Cherbourg walking up and down waiting for train to start. Get cockeyed in waiting-room. Paris at midnight. Tentative schedule—May 23: Arrange finances at bank. Buy presents for people at home. Do personal shopping for trip. slctual schedule—May 23: Sleep all day. Sit at table on terrace at Closerie des Lilas and watch people go by. Tentative schedule—May 24: Leave Paris 7:45. Ar- rive Coblentz 20:11, Actual schedule—May 24: Sleep and sit at Closerie des Lilas and watch people go by. vntative schedule—May 25: Boat from Coblentz Sail up Rhine to Mainz, arriving at 18:30. Actual schedule—May 25: Sit at Closerie des Lilas and wateh people go by. Tentative schedule—May 26: Leave Mainz 7:50. Ar- rive Munich 18:45. Actual schedule—Sit at Closerie des Lilas and watch people go by. Sit outside Café de la Paix and watch people go by. Munich 18:30. Tentative schedule—May 27: Leave Arrive Vienna 6:50. 4 “WHERE DID SYLVIA GET HER KY 5 NEW HUSBAND? N “VM NOT sURE—BUT I THINK SHE WON HIM IN A LIMERICK CONTEST.” Actual schedule—May aunt. Sit on bench in the go by. Also watch squirre : Start to look up uncle and embourg and watch people Tentative schedule—May 28: Leave Vienna 9:50, Ar- rive Budapest 14:00. Actual schedule—May 28: Get more money. Sit at Café de la Paix until it begins to rain. Sit at Harry's and watch Brooklyn Boys go by. Tentative schedule—May 28-June 3: From Budapest to Paris via Lucerne and Geneva. Actual schedule—May 28-June 3: Sit. Tentative schedule—June Actual schedule—June 5 Sail for home. Sail for home. Robert Benchley. “DP the bishop kiss the bride?” “No, he just offered her a cigarette.” THE RACES AT LONGCHAMPS, comicbooks.com