Life, 1927-04-14 · page 36 of 38
Life — April 14, 1927 — page 36: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains **advertisements and humorous anecdotes** rather than political cartoons. The main **Murad cigarette ad** uses aspirational messaging typical of early 20th-century tobacco marketing—targeting men who consider themselves entitled to "life's better things," with an illustration of a distinguished gentleman smoking. Below are three unrelated humor pieces: 1. **"Common Knowledge"** - a brief joke about villagers knowing each other's business 2. **"Furnishing Its Own"** - a rural anecdote from the *New Orleans Times-Picayune* where a farmer exaggerates storm damage claims; the joke's punchline reveals his loss was inflated by $9,999 worth of someone *else's* damaged property blown onto his land 3. **"The Final Torture"** - a darkly comedic story where a prisoner withstands medieval tortures but breaks when threatened with a saw being *played as a musical instrument* The page also includes period advertisements for travel sickness remedies and Hohner harmonicas. The content reflects early 20th-century magazine humor: wordplay, rural stereotypes, and absurdist jokes.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
ORLD’S BEST CIGARETTE or the man o feels entitled to life's etter , Common Knowledge Srmaxorr: Ab, Mrs. Mudge, one-half of the world is ignorant how the other half lives. “Not in this village, miss.”"—Answers, Journey by Sea, Train, Auto or Air in health and comfort. Moth- ersill's promptly ends the faintness and nausea of Travel Sickness. 34 73¢. & $1.30 at Drug Stores or dire® The Mothersiil Remedy Co., Ltd. New York Paris Furnishing Its Own Tuere had been a windstorm in a rural section, and it had done consider- able damage. Among others in the com- munity, Alec Stinson had been hit pretty hard. Alec was a lackadaisical sort of farmer who supported mortgages on a rocky plot of ground up in Possum Hol- ler, He lived in a house that wasn’t much more than a grown-up drygoods box, and his barn was a lean-to shed thatched with brush. But to hear Alec talk you'd think he'd lost a fortune in the storm. A newspaper man heard rumors of Alec’s estimation of his loss, and sought confirmation of them. He asked one of the neighbors. “{ understand the storm did $10,000 worth of damage over at Alec Stinson’s place. Do you know anything about it?” “Well, I know this much,” drawled the neighbor. “If it did it moved about $9,999 worth of somebody else’s damage up there to do.” —New Orleans Times-Picayune. Joo ea ae The Final Torture IX the rat-harassed dungeon the candles flickered crazily, casting obscene shadows upon the moldering walls. Pale, but determined, the prisoner confronted his tormentors, “Foolish one,” said the head tor- turer. “We have racked your thumbs and dropped molten lead down your neck. Do you confess?” “No!” said the prisoner, proudly, “Submit him to the spiked mallet,” said the head torturer. It was done. “Do you confess now?” “Never!” cried the prisoner, as if bolstered by an inner strength. “You are a tough customer,” said the chief torturer. “All my devices are in vain. Yet I have one more— my last and most terrible!” He whispered to a familiar, who nodded and departed, returning with a gleaming instrument. “See this!” hissed the torturer. “The Saw!” “The Saw!” screamed the _pris- oner. “Not that! Not that! I con- fess! I confess anything!” “It was well you did,” muttered the chief torturer, putting the saw carefully away. “For if you hadn't, I should have played upon it!" H.W. I AMusic Professor and the Harmonica “Inspiring people to play a musical in- strument means laying the foundation for much happiness and contentment” says Peter W. Dykema, Professor of ; Music Education at Columbia Univer- sity. “‘No instrument is better adapted to universal use than the Harmonica. May the time soon come when every> one will feel it is an important part of his equipment.” ‘This learned professor, who has taught thousands of studentsthe way to happiness through music, knows that the Harmonica is one instrument which anyonemay easily learn to play. And millions of people the world over know that to play the Hohner Harmonica is a source of happiness and satisfaction Get a Hohner Harmonica today and ask for the Free Instruction Book. If your dealer is out of copies write: M. Hohner, Inc., Dept. 223, 114 East 16th Street, New York City. reaaa es cxeerececrie3eEy) EYEE EES ETeETEP EEC StSESECEEEEETE comicbooks.com ‘ia ~.