Life, 1927-10-27 · page 11 of 36
Life — October 27, 1927 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes gender dynamics and workplace behavior in the early 20th century. The top cartoon depicts "The Millionaire Gets His Daily Five Minutes of Sun"—showing wealthy men lounging while a woman lies on the ground, likely critiquing idle wealth and gender imbalance. The main article "Women Are Funny That Way" mocks a man's failed attempts to win a woman's affection through self-improvement (learning languages, joining clubs, studying literature). The humor lies in his confusion: despite his efforts, she remains uninterested, suggesting women's preferences are unpredictable or irrational to men. The embedded jokes mock workplace hierarchies and stenographer-employee dynamics, showing typical office power imbalances of the era. The overall tone satirizes both masculine presumption and the "mysterious" nature of female behavior.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE MILLIONAIRE GETS HIS DAILY FIVE MINUTES OF SUN, Women Are Funny That Way HE sign in the barber shop said: — tic, Cuneiform and Hunt & Pick. I ting avera You have to “Present a neat appearance. got so cultured up that nobody to the best minds of history to j You can win HER by having your could pass a wisecrack without my able to knock HER for a ix hair cut regularly.” Well, it kept hurling a fast one right back at him. found that out in the magazines me pretty nearly broke, but I visited I drank Listerosis by the gallon, I became an expert on more that barber shop every day. because the advertisement said not = musical instruments than Paul Then I thought’ perhaps the to ruin my chances with HER by Whiteman ever heard of. People 1 trouble lay in my social defects and neglecting it. used ta stand entranced — outside that I was one of these stupids who You should have seen me delve yyy window, under the impression never say a word all evening. So into Elbert Haldeman-Julius’s that [ was the Street Cleaning De I learned French, Spanish, Greek, Scrapbook. I knew Aristotle a8 jyartment Band and that Lindbergh Crow and Old Crow, Choctaw, Cop- well as Babe Ruth knows his bat- j,.4 lasiled ‘awath, ov something You can't win HER without Art : I joined all these clubs that pre- i scribe the best book of the month to i you. In that way I got four differ- ent books every day. A thorough grounding in current literature al- zreat with HER. If vou eve it I'll show you the ways don't that says so. »ping That wasn't the half of what I did to gain HER love And still she gards me as some- thing even the cat wouldn't bring in. P : Ewol Doesn't SHE know the rules of rospective omployer: WHy the What's the matter with DID YOU LEAVE YOUR LAST piace? Stenographer: Tur noss Got the girl, anyway Tip Bliss. FRESH. Ssasonal Prospective Employer: axv : easona YOU RESENTED IT? CA! LER: Mr. Smithson in con- ference? rtinG Orrick Boy: Yeh, the A Stenographer: sere i pip. ue ALWAYS WAITED UNTIL APTER FIVE O'CLOCK. Sp. comicbooks.com