Life, 1927-05-19 · page 32 of 42
Life — May 19, 1927 — page 32: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page collects brief humorous anecdotes and quips mocking contemporary society. The top section features two Futurism cartoons satirizing avant-garde artists: a tailor and painter each insist their "blocked out" work is complete, refusing further refinement—mocking modernist art's apparent incompleteness to conventional eyes. Below are miscellaneous jokes targeting: racial attitudes (a Black servant's confusion about "wild" Indians); tourist ignorance (an American dentist seeking the "four horsemen's" departure point at Athens); Einstein's relativity theory (dismissed as incomprehensible like other youth trends); and social absurdities (a Japanese schoolboy literally obeying a "School Go Slow" traffic sign; Americans as backseat drivers in politics). The scattered items reflect *Life's* satirical mission: lampooning modern pretension, scientific bewilderment, and cultural foolishness through brevity and wit, often with casual racial humor typical of the era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
IT OUT SPLENDIDLY. VINISHING Wt? “on, NO, 1 WOULDN'T DO ANOTHER THING TO IT. I MIGHT spout it.” Who's Wild Now? Wuex the circus paraded through Charleston with a troupe of painted Sioux Indians, said to be direct from the Rosebud Reservation, little Robert asked his mother: “Were those genuine wild Mama?" Colored servant Mandy, who had been listening, exclaimed in pop-eyed amaze- ment: “Do dem people grow wild?” —Charleston News and Courier. Indians, Another Traveler's Tale “Pius is all very interesting,” said the Des Moines dentist to the dragoman at the Acropolis of Athens, “but what I came here to see is the exact spot where those four horsemen started out on their famous ride."—New York World. Tu poet's scientific son might sa “She was a television of delight...” —Arkansas Gazette. He: i'm souy ctap 1 pipN’r GET THAT SEPARATION ! —Tit-Bits (London). “Aut Scissors aut Nullus” Futurism Now m0W ABoUT Tur Einstein theory four years old this week. There's another one of the Younger Generation who is misunder- stood.—Detroit News. OF THE TRAIN “pOESN’T THE VIBRATIO: ROTITER YOU “SOT SINCE GRANDPATIER'S: BEEN A CHRONIC INVALID—IT 8A Us THE TROU- BLE OF SHAKIN S$ MEDICINES.” —Buen Humor (Madrid). Insensibility Ir had just been explained to the little boy that a fakir was a man who could stick nails, knives, ete., into him- self without experiencing the slightest discomfort. Glancing at “oll, NO, 1 WOULDN’T DO ANOTHE Now ow anovr ING TO IT. 1 swt spot. rt.” —Le Journal (Paris). The Japanese Schoolboy Tue Oriental mind works differently from that of the Caucasian, as is ¢ denced by the following incident: Minoru San had been a habitual late arrival at his classroom. The teacher be- came suspicious and asked the reason for his tardiness. Replied the boy: “There is a sign near our school which says, ‘School Go Slow.’ I didn’t want to violate the order of the police depart. ment, so I abided by it.” —Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Spoken Like a Man Wire: Every time you see a pretty girl you forget you're married. Heswaxn: You're wrong, my dear. Nothing brings home the fact with so much force.—Chicago Tribune. “She was roused from her sleep by loud cries of ‘fore!’ "—Provincial Paper. Tuose golf-mad husbands! —Humorist (London). Tue American people are a race of back-seat drivers in government. —Alchison Globe. his father’s bamboo cane, he said wistfully: “I wish I was a fakir, too— at least in the seat of my trousers!" —Fliegende Blatter (Munich). A Lone Merit Tue best thing we know Of the popular song Ts the fact that it doesn’t Stay popular long. —Boston Transcript. Ir’s getting to be a pretty small town that doesn’t have the largest picture palace in the world.—Collier’s. AY, BILL, DID YOU EVER GET LONESOME: “{ SHORE DID—I SPENT A WEEK NEW YORK ONCE.” —Colorado Dodo. comicbooks.com