Life, 1927-05-26 · page 35 of 39
Life — May 26, 1927 — page 35: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page announces Life's weekly reader-participation contest. Contestants must complete the caption starting "Well, you see, it's..." for the cartoon depicting a car accident scene with multiple figures examining a damaged vehicle on a rural road. The joke setup is straightforward: someone needs to invent an excuse ("alibi") explaining what happened. The cartoon's dialogue provides context—onlookers speculate whether there's been an accident, with one character blaming tire failure and recommending Kelly-Springfields brand tires. This is essentially a caption-writing contest where readers submit creative explanations in 25 words or fewer. The $50 first prize suggests Life's confidence in reader engagement. The rules clarify submission procedures, judging criteria, and eligibility (staff excluded). The page also includes unrelated brief humor items about Chicago's lack of gun regulations and taxi drivers' linguistic abilities—typical filler content for the era's satirical magazine.
📄 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 11 for other information.) ACH week we will publish a dif- ferent picture in the ALIBI CONTEST—the picture this week being marked “ALIBI NUMBER TWENTY-FOUR.” 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 in- genious conclusion to the sentence which starts, “Well, you see, it’s Five second’ prizes of $10.00 each 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 eligible for a prize. The Judges will be three of the Editors of Lirr. In the event of a tie, the full amount of the prize will be awarded to each of the tying contestants. Answers should be typewritten or clearly written on one side of the paper. Every single sheet 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. Answers to ALIBI NUMBER TWENTY-FOUR should be so marked, and sent to ALIBI CON- TEST EDITOR, Lirr, 598 Mad- ison Avenue, New York City. All answers to ALIBI NUMBER TWENTY-FOUR must reach office before 12 noon on June . Announcement of the win- ners will be made in the issue of June 30, 1927. The Contest is open to all and is not limited to subscribers to Lirr. Members of Lire’s staff, and their families, are barred from competi- tion. The Timid Soul in Chicago Citicaco has no parallel to New York’s Sullivan law, the feeling out there being that nobody timid enough to conceal a weapon can be much of a menace to the community, anyway. —New York Herald Tribune, te “Aut taxi-drivers in a large city,” de- “What can have happened to them? Do you suppose they've had Clares a magistrate, “ought to be good an accident?” linguists” Well, aren't they? “More likely Jim is having tire trouble again; he doesn’t seem to —Ideas (London). learn by experience. I switched over to Kelly-Springfields long ago.” comicbooks.com