Life, 1927-11-10 · page 13 of 44
Life — November 10, 1927 — page 13: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page from *Life* magazine satirizes college life through poetry and illustrations. "The Cycle" traces a student's journey from freshman to senior, mocking the books assigned (Burns, Virgil's *Aeneid*) and changing interests—from serious studies to dating, dancing, and reading modern literature like Joyce and Fitzgerald. The football cartoon depicts a player claiming a foul was committed "below the belt," satirizing both aggressive sports behavior and excuse-making. "Why I Never Drink" humorously catalogs alcohol's negative effects—headaches, foul taste, legal issues, marital disapproval—with the author claiming personal reasons rather than moral conviction. The final cartoon shows a couple discussing a jazz concert's composition, with the man patronizingly suggesting the woman shouldn't expect to understand as a "freshman." Overall, the page mocks collegiate pretension and changing social values of the 1920s era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The Cycle HESE are the books of a college man Fresh from the halls of the dear old school, Bearing the mark of paternal rul Smile at his youth as the shelf you scan: “Students’ Edition of Robert Burns”; “Radio Building,” and “Model Boats”; “A First’ Year Physics,” by Waldo Stearns; “Virgil's Eneid, with English Notes.” Freshman simplicity fades away, Gone with the wane of the ink-spot hat; Highways of learning are drab and flat; What does the Sophomore find au fait? “Football Tactics,” The Waning Church” ; Lawrence, and Joyce and James Cabell; Critical studies in sex research; “Behaviorism,” “There Is No Hell.” Dancing and dating have made him bold; Many the changes a year has wrought! Love is the trend of the Junior's thought— Witness the annals his book-ends hold: Thin little volumes of lyric verse; Scott Fitzgerald, and Pamela Wynne; Ravings crotic galore, and, worse, Novels mephitic by Elinor Glyn. Finals and exodus loom amain, Marking the close of scholastic life; Near is the dawn of commercial strife, Taxing the diligent Senior's brain. “Salesman Psychology,” “How to Invest,” “Money and Banking,” “The Morris Plan”; Poems by Service and Eddie Guest: These are the books of a college man! John R. Swain. Justifiable N EWSPAPER EDITOR: Yesterday, for the first time in years, there wasn't a single hold-up, love-nest_ orgy, gang fight or even a plain old-fashioned murder that could possibly have justified an extra. “What did you do to celebrate the oc sion?” “We got out an extra.” Analogy N an effort to re-establish good will, teams of Harvard and Princeton grad- uates are to play football together. Fol- lowing out the idea, it might be the Belgian and German Armies to stage a sham battle. \ om j TousEy Football Player (an ex-prize fighter, to referee): ev! THIS BIMBO TACKLED ME BELOW TIE Why I Never Drink Being the Sad Fate of a Mental Argument Started When the Host Begins His Search for the Shaker 1 CLAIM A FOUL, BELT. much and [ don't know what is in it and the police are very strict and it makes my breath bad trusted [is poisonous and it doesn’t taste good and it with an awful head and a thick tongue and a dark brown feeling leaves me and gers can't be and 3 an't tell what you are get- ting and all of it is cut and the last I had tasted like alcohol and I haven't recov- ered yet and if I drink « more it'll probably kill me I have a lot of work to do and my wife doesn’t approve and you say that it is real Scotch and you know it is good be- you got it from a boot- legger who is almost a_per- friend and he wouldn't and a little shot will up and you have a mixing it with sugar to kill the poison and— well, if you insist! Frederick C and it is full of lye and ether a worse and it is against the and I don't like it and it costs too rubbing sonal tell pick me new way of a lie Othman, Or What Have You? “T UNDERSTAND that the concert will consist of both and classic selections.” Yes, sax of one and half a dozen of the other.” She: marry you? von’? BE sILLY— "RE ONLY A FRESHMAN! NOW, BUT ILL FLUNK OUT. comicbooks.com