Life, 1927-07-07 · page 29 of 42
Life — July 7, 1927 — page 29: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three satirical pieces typical of 1920s American humor: **"A Gradual Let-Down"** presents absurdist humor listing occupations where workers supposedly seek relaxation through unrelated leisure activities—a bus driver piloting small cars, a married man taking his young bride to tea, a steamship captain rowing boats in Central Park. The joke relies on the incongruity that these activities provide no actual relief from their professions. **"The Prospects Good"** is a brief comic dialogue between two women (Ethel and Mabel) about marriage, with Mabel claiming men "go crazy" over married women—dark humor about infidelity or masculine fickleness. **"Must Between Us Girls"** features a lengthy complaint by a woman named Lloyd Mayer about exhausting social activities—boat races, dances, yachting—involving Harvard and Yale men. The humor stems from her performative breathlessness and the breathless, capitalized speech pattern mimicking affected upper-class female gossip. **"The Lindbergh Influence"** references Charles Lindbergh's famous 1927 solo transatlantic flight, joking that a plumber now needs only "me and me wrench" to complete jobs, rather than an assistant—apparently inspired by Lindbergh's solo achievement.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Li A Gradual Let-Down NY of the drivers of London buses, says an Eng- ish paper, own small cars and motorcycles and get relaxation from handling buses by piloting the smaller vehicles in their leisure time In the same way it is easy to understand the benctits derived by, say, the hus band of a mother of six in taking a bride of a month to tea, or the cap: tain of the Leviathan rowing a hired boat about Central Park, or the op erator of a * steam shovel ¥ digging in the ‘ ay children’s sand oxy box with a tin shovel and pail, or an amateur marat thusiast running — to and from business every day, or a whok sale florist picki daisies in an empty lot, ora big bootlegger ne SOMEWHERE A VICE IS gotiati 1 glass of CALLING, beer in a strange speakeasy, or a bank teller matching pennies, or a big game hunter shooting flies with a rubber band, or a mail clerk playing post- office, or a high diver jumping off curbstones, or an ex- plorer searching for funny names in the phone book, or an astronomer looking at germs through a reducing» glass. Or writing a piece like this. HOW. HH. y) Oo 7 The Prospects Good Ethel: axv vo you THINK We WE ARE Mabel; ou, sure! wity, We is JUST CRAZY AuOUT MARRIED WOMEN, MY DEAK. LOVE ME EVEN MORE WHEN Le i) On ‘™’ dear, I'm on the VERGE of colLAPSE—I mean + Tam HONestly WHIPPED down to a NUB at this point, no less, because TI sort of WENT to. these FOUL BOAT races at New LONdon with ‘Tom DRIBble, my dear, and it was SIMply GHASTly because we sort of arRIVED for this odd DANCE that they always have at the GRISwold the night beFORE dear, it was SIMply WILD because I mean ily EVerybody was PLUSHED the SCUP. pers all the entire time, and Tmean ‘Tom sort of disap PEARED mysTEriously all of a SUDden and sort of left me at the MERey of this RAUcous crowd because I mean he passed OUT or something all of a SUDden, my dear, and Twas SIMply RIPping. But ANY ways, my dear, it was TERribly FUNny beeause I sort of FOUND myself about THREE G. M. the next MORNing sort of sitting CASurally on this odd YACHT in the THAMES chanting “BOOla, BU L.Lde ever that edd YALE ditty is, comPLETELy sur ROUNDed by HARvard men, my dear—ean you BEAR it? Well, ANYways, practicably NObody knew how we had GOT there or anything and it was SIMPLY SCREAMIing be und, 10, practic or what- my dear, and we sort of all had BREAK fast at the GRISwold and when TOM appeared on the seenc again I owas going to the RACES with at least THREE different HARvard men on BOTH obserVA tion trains—ACtually, my dear, CAN you BEAR it? IT mean I HONestly think it’s the FUNniest thing I've ever KNOWN, my dear— TI mean I ACtually DO! Lloyd Mayer. The Lindbergh Influence ‘JS it a tough job?" the plumber was asked “Naw,” said he, “we ought to get it in two-three hours. “Me and me assistant, hell! answered the plumber. “Me and me wrench!" And he went back to his shop for it. comicbooks.com