Life, 1927-11-03 · page 16 of 44
Life — November 3, 1927 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satirical cartoon depicts a medicine-man pitchman addressing a crowd at what appears to be a Rotary Club meeting. The caption indicates he's hawking a "cure-all medicine" guaranteed to "fatten the babies, beautify the ladies and make the men grow tall." The joke satirizes both the charlatan medicine industry and American commercialism broadly. The five preceding speakers have each advocated "selling" something—sunshine, water, milk, schools, and ultimately "ourselves." The visiting Englishman's reaction ("Whoopee!") and subsequent dialogue about the U.S. selling itself to Cliggersville critiques how thoroughly commercialized American society has become—everything, even basic human values and institutions, has become a commodity for profit.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The Gay Nineties THE HEYDAY OF THE CURE-ALL MEDICINE MAN WHOSE CONCOCTION WAS GUARANTEED TO “PATTEN THE BABIES, BEAUTIFY THE LADIES AND MAKE THE MEN GROW TALL.” A Complete Sell-Out OR the fifty-sixth time the visiting Englishman was invited to a luncheon club The first speaker got up and said: “Gentlemen, we must sell our geographical location to the outside in- vestor.”” The second speaker got up and said: “We must sell our sunshine.” The third speaker said: “We must sell our pure water and milk supply.” The fourth speaker said: “We must sell our schools and churches.” ‘The fifth speaker said: “We must sell ourselves. The United States has been sold to the world. It's now up to Chiggersville to sell herself to the United States.” “Whoopee!” shouted the visitor, leaping wildly from his chair. “Whoop! Whoopee! Yeow!" He seized his n both hands and spun around like a top. t on earth's the matter?” asked the Rotarians. astonished “AIL I've heard since I've been over here is, sell.” My word! Don't you ever buy anything? Then the Rotarians, perceiving what was wrong with the poor man, gently led him away, and he was locked up in a quiet, cool room with padded walls. Paul Cook. She Would Be ARKER: Who is that stunningly dressed Io Benper The fine-looking brunette? Oh, the wife of that worried-looking little man she’s comicbooks.com