Life, 1927-09-29 · page 25 of 38
Life — September 29, 1927 — page 25: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page combines a **reader contest** with **social satire and advertising**. The main contest ("Alibi Number Forty-Two") invites readers to complete a caption for a cartoon, offering $50 weekly prizes. The cartoon itself depicts a domestic scene: a woman reporting to her husband that she's gossiped at her bridge club about his financial failure (owing $9,000), only to be outdone by Mrs. Mitz, whose husband owes over $20,000. The humor targets **1920s social pretense**—wives competing to one-up each other socially while their husbands face serious debt. The page's closing line—"It is the ambition of modern man to die with his brakes on"—satirizes masculine dignity in the face of financial ruin. The substantial advertisement for **bottled carbonated beverages** (soda) occupies significant space, reflecting the beverage industry's prominence in 1920s consumer culture and Life's reliance on advertising revenue.
📄 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 BACH week we will publish a dif f “picture in the ALIBI : the picture this week being marked “ALIBI NUMBER FORTY-TWO.” 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 ¥ cond prizes of $10.00 ch 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 Live. 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 or the Contest pictures to be eligible for a prize. The Judges will be three of the Editors of Lire. In the event of a tie, the full amount of the prize will be awarded to each of the tying con- testants. Answers should be typewritten or clearly written on one side of the paper. script -d- must be marked with the contestant’s 1 and address. The Judges cannot un- dertake to return any of the manu- scripts submitted in this Contest. Answers to ALIBI NUMBER FORTY-TWO should be so marked, and sent to ALIBI CONTEST EDITOR, Lire, 598 Madison Ave- nue, New York City. All answers to ALIBI NUMBER FORTY-TWO must reach Lire’s office before noon on October 15 Announcement of the winners will be made in the issue of November 3, 1927. The Contest is open to all and is not limited to subscribers to Lire. Members of Live's staff, and their families, are barred from competi- tion in the Contest. The Poor Provider ENRY,” exclaimed Mrs. H. P. Bloop to her husband, “at the bridge club to-day I told them you had failed, owing nine thousand dol- lars, and then that Mrs. Mitz ned in and said her husband had ailed, owing over twenty thousand to his creditors. The cat!” I" is the ambition of modern man to die with his brakes on. SPONSORED BY BOTTLED CARBONATED DRINKS alone or in delicious combinations Y, it's amazing the number of nations you can make with bottled carbonated beverages. Not only sparkling, cool punches, and other drinks with that piquant tangy taste... but wonderful salads and frozen des s which delight the eye and palate. quite the thing now-a-days to order by Send for ¢, just as regularly as you buy groceries. This Booklet— Keep a few bottles on ice, always ready for emergencies. Theres a BOTTLER an your town Bottled Carbonated Beverages These tastecempting drinks also are known by less formal names .. . tonics in New England soda water in Dusie .. . ode pop in the Mid West... soft drinks in the Far West ... and we all Know the ginger alo. Call then what you wil bur desk pour fl they're te good and good for you! / comicbooks.com