Life, 1927-06-16 · page 30 of 34
Life — June 16, 1927 — page 30: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page collects brief humorous anecdotes and cartoons from various international sources, primarily satirizing early 20th-century social conventions and collegiate life. **Main Features:** The "Collegiate Humor" section depicts a drowsy classroom where students snap to attention only when a tardy classmate enters, then again when the professor makes a sarcastic remark. The satire targets the performative nature of classroom engagement—students feign interest through synchronized nodding and laughter while actually disengaged. **Other notable items:** - An American in Paris rejecting the Mississippi River (social commentary on expatriate attitudes) - A reformed social climber avoiding old acquaintances - Various one-liners mocking marriage, golf, and aviation terminology - A cartoon about a sky-writing adventure gone wrong The page's subtitle "Aut Scissors aut Nullus" (scissors or nothing) suggests Life's editorial approach: sharp, cutting wit. The international sourcing reflects this era's cosmopolitan humor exchange among English-language publications.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Our Foolis American (in Paris): xo! tHe MISSISSIPPE TAS DISGUSTED ME WITIL WATER FOR THE REST OF MY Lire. —Le Canard Enchainé, Reformed “I want to see the manager,” de- manded the dilapidated-looking individ- ual. “He's too busy,” replied the office boy. “But I must see him. Why, I knew him when he didn’t have a penny twenty years ago.” “Well,” said the smart youth, “he doesn't want to see anybody he knew twenty years ago. He doesn't drink Smith's Weekly (Sydney). To Be Read Aloud Tux following classic appeared on the sereen of a local movie: “A man has got as much right to be proud about getting married like a mouse could take credit for being cat up by a cat."—Buffalo Courier-Express. Not His Game Swe: Why did Freddie Necker give up golf? He: He discovered that a golf ball cannot be driven with one hand. —Centre Colonel. Carraix Lixpserci has added a new device to the English language—the avia- torial “we."—New York World. Skymost Boy: ’n, 1MMY, LEND ‘1M YOUR BALLOON! —Windsor Magazine (London). “Aut Scissors aut Nullus” Collegiate Humor Cotteciate Humor...Irrepressible! Ir- resistible! Irresponsible! It is a class-room. The students sit row on row, silent, nodding in their seats. The rear rows nod in drowsiness; the front row nods in rhythmic assent with the instructor. The instructor bumbles happily on in front. It is all like a Negro spiritual. So solemn. So rhythmic, So damn monotonous. Now there is a violent interruption. A student enters and crosses the room to a chair, and every man is jerked awake. Every eye is on him as he moves, every man prepares himself mechanically for what must follow. The professor is clearing his throat. “Well, well,” says the professor, “if it isn’t the late Mr. Mandelbaum.” At once a man guffaws. Laughter spreads. The room is filled with shak- ing students, and the desks rock with “TELL ME, NURSE, DO THE CHILDREN OF THE CONGO WASIC WITIE BLACK Soa —Buen Humor (Madrid). merriment. For a short moment the laughter dies down, and somebody begins to clap his hands, but immediately it rises again, louder and louder, while the professor sits grinning and blinking in bashful bliss. Eventually the shouts die down, al- though here and there a student throws back his head and whoops in ecstatic abandon. He who laughs last catches the professor's eye. It is over now. Row on row the students begin to couch themselves again. ‘The front row resumes its solemn sway- ing. The professor has once more begun his chant. We have seen it all. That is Collegiate Humor! Irresistible! Ir- repress— Who said “Boo!” —L. G., in C. C. N.Y. Mercury. Lucid Interval Younc Maw (at tell- ers window): Would you mind looking up my balance? I've been in love a couple of weeks. —WNew Yorker. mtemporaries CRASH ON THE Grow “BUT LOOK — WE'RE LAND! RUBBER PLANTATION.” —Le Péle-Méle (Paris). Satisfied Aw enthusiastic thirster for adventure had accompanied a sky-writer through his stunts, and had come down with his ardor somewhat dampened. “What did you think, Bill, when the pilot was cutting all those didos with his machine?” asked a friend. “Tthought several times, when IT was about to fall out, that maybe he had brought me along for a blotter.” — New Orleans Times- Picayune. VANISHING READ —Vassar Vagabond. It Should Be Easy “Ler me see a girl's ankles and I can tell her character,” said a writer in Punch some years ago. How about her family history, now?—M. I. T. Voo Doo. “Twice."—Country Gentleman. “ALLOW ME TO INFORM YOU, SIR, THAT YOUR EMPLOYEES ARE A VERY RUDE tor!” “THEY'RE 80 POORLY PAID—THEY MUST HAVE SOME COMPENSATION.” —Le Ruy Blas (Paris). comicbooks.com