Life, 1927-05-12 · page 26 of 43
Life — May 12, 1927 — page 26: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains satirical commentary on 1920s social attitudes. **"The Young Radical of the Nineties"** mocks a man (Mr. Swayne) expressing progressive ideas—women's suffrage, shorter skirts for athletic activity, women smoking cigarettes—that shock his female companion (Miss Armitage) into fainting. The joke ridicules both the radical's earnest advocacy and the woman's exaggerated prudishness, suggesting these "modern" ideas still scandalize society. **"Dutiful Doris"** satirizes a young woman who performs respectability by pre-screening her mother's reading materials and carefully timing her visits to nightclubs—waiting until venues become questionable before avoiding them. The humor targets performative propriety: she's morally complicit in modern behavior while maintaining plausible deniability. The **product advertisement** (rivet rivets) uses working-class dialogue as humor, suggesting trivial consumer preference over practical necessity. Together, these pieces mock 1920s anxieties about changing social norms, particularly regarding women's liberation, generational conflict, and the tension between modern behavior and traditional respectability.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
First Laborer: Tell me, Nigel, why do you insist upon using the Little Gem Kant-Slip Rivets in your work? Second Laborer: Because I like nice things. Che Young Poadical of the Vbineties “ CG/2ERSONALLY, Miss Armitage, I see no > reason why ladies should not have equal suffrage with the mer “Oh, Mr. Swayne!" “Did I startle you? I beg your pardon. I am afraid I have some rather—well, radical ideas. For instance, why is a young man ex- pected to sow his wild oats, while his sisters are models of decorum?” “Mr. Swayne! Really!” “And another thing: how can you play a lively game like tennis in those long skirts? Couldn't the ladies shorten the hem to just above the ankle? “Mr. Swayne—I’m—I'm almost afraid of you! You seem to know so much about the world.” “Miss Armitage...have you ever, by any chance, wanted to smoke a cigarette, just to see what it was like?” (There is a loud shriek, followed by a muffled thud as Miss Armitage collapses gracefully on the floor.) Norman R. Jaffray. Go fires in the New York subway seriously crippled the telephone service, which is about the same thing as kicking a man when he’s already down. ROLAND — Dutiful Doris HE realizes that much of the modern fiction OJ’ would not be suitable for her mother to read, so she has a standing order with a bookseller to send her everything dubious so she can decide whether it should have a place on the living room table. She knows how embarrassing it is for parents to have to expla n odd or unusual child, so she dances at the night clubs so as not to excite comment. She makes it a rule never to be seen on a party in a questionable place. Before a place is known well enough to be questionable she has tired of it and has taken her friends somewhere else. McC. H. > Leogiess OW are you com- ing along with your new car?” “Well, I'm getting s can read the oil advertis ments in the magazines without being scared.” “ tins ing sma bres (dn «] «] comicbooks.com