Life, 1927-08-25 · page 22 of 36
Life — August 25, 1927 — page 22: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page showcases **Life's humor contest** where readers submit creative excuses ("alibis") for embarrassing situations. The featured cartoon shows a boxer who's been knocked out in the second round—clearly an upset loss—while his angry manager demands an explanation. The joke format is satirical: readers must invent absurd excuses the defeated boxer might offer. The winning alibi from Mrs. George Barton uses bridge card-game terminology to claim she was distracted by a card game, not actually focused on the fight—a deliberately ridiculous and implausible excuse. The other prize-winning alibis similarly mock romantic infidelity and marital disputes through nonsensical explanations (a woman claims she was thinking about carving something for "Babe Ruth"). The satire targets both the human tendency to make excuses and the absurdity of trying to justify obvious failures. This was popular audience-participation humor in early 20th-century magazines.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
PRIZE WINNERS ALIBI NUMBER THIRTY-TWO He: you TOLD ME 1 WAS THE ONLY MAN YOU EVER LOVED—w¥Nb THERE'S YOUR NAME, WITIL FRED GRAY's. OW ARE YOU GOING TO LAvGU that ovr? She: Wei, sWRETHEART, YOU SEE, IT was THs way... That's only where I doubled hearts hoping for a diamond lead, but the dummy renigged. This Alibi, which wins the first prize of $50.00, was submitted by Mrs. Grorar Barton, Hotel New Richmond, Seattle, Wash. Six sccond prizes (ane more than ch the usual number) of $10.00 « have been awarded to the followin F. J. Doxtaten, Los Angeles, Calif., for the Alibi: “Fred said he'd kill himself unless [ let him put our names there. I said, ‘Go ahead,’ and he misunderstood me.” Henert H. Deniar, Washington, D. C., for the Alibi: “I never saw that before, but I knew Fred was always a designing wretch.” W. B. Hitts, Norfolk, Va., for the Alibi: “I just had to think of something to keep him busy while I put my skates on.” Yvonne Lariam, Concord, N. WL, for the Alibi: “IT let Fred carve this when your sister told me that you were just crazy about Bak Rath.” (Please turn to page ALIBI CONTEST Conditions of the Contest on page 25 $100.00 Weekly in Prizes OST of us have, at some time or other, been in some sort of fight and have been compelled to take a licking, Oftentimes we have been licked when we had expected, con- fic y, to win; had gone so far, in fact, as to blow a bit, beforehand, about what an casy victory it was Ss going to be. In such a position is the pugilist of this week's picture. His second is much disgruntled at the fighter’s showing, and demands an ex- planation be forthcoming. Help the fallen warrior to frame his Alibi, or excuse, Use twenty-five words, or less. Typewrite, or write legibly, using only one side of the paper. Write your name and address and the num- ber of the Alibi plainly on each sheet. Mast contestants observe these conditions, but many good answers have been rejected through failure to follow the rules. The prizes are as follows: First Prize, $50.00 Five Second Prizes of $10.00 each ALIBI NUMBER THIRTY- EIGHT will be published in) Lire next week, with a new set of prizes offered. Read the conditions carefully— and go to it! ALIBI NUMBER THIRTY-SEV: The Second (bitterly): yx sip pis GUY WOULD Br PIE PER YA, AND HE KNOCKS YA OUT IN DE SECOND. WIIAT'S DE ANSW ? The Pug (still groggy): Weir, YA SEE, LT WAS DIS WAY... comicbooks.com