Life, 1927-11-10 · page 14 of 44
Life — November 10, 1927 — page 14: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**The Main Cartoon: "The Gay Nineties"** This nostalgic illustration depicts fashionably dressed figures from the 1890s era, accompanied by Elias Lieberman's poem lamenting the loss of that period's iconic garment—the "copious sweater" or "pull-over sweater that rolled at the neck." The satire mocks the fashion trends of Lieberman's contemporary moment (likely early 1900s-1910s) by romanticizing 1890s aesthetics. The poem's repeated references to the sweater rolling at the neck suggest this was a defining feature no longer fashionable, making the nostalgia humorous. **"The Slogan Writer Collects a Gertrude Stein Complex"** Below is a tongue-twister credited to Al Graham, playing on Gertrude Stein's famously repetitive, experimental prose style. This appears to mock both Stein's literary technique and copywriters imitating her verbose, circular language patterns—a contemporary satirical jab at modernist literary fashions.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The Gay Nineties OW dear to our youth was the plenteous sweater, The copious sweater that football men wore, The garb of each valorous pigskin go-getter, Whom Gibson-girls fearfully loved to adore. The garment that sported a Varsity letter, The raiment that never a scrimmage could wreck, The armor-like sweater, the heavy wool sweater, The pull-over sweater that rolled at the neck. The Slogan Writer Collects a Gertrude Stein Complex N OT and not and not a not not. But cough and cough and a cough and a not cough and a cough not but no cough but car. In car in which car in a car in a carload but cough. So oad, carload, carload, carload and cough. Which cough but cough ‘but not cough but car- And now that the mandate of Fate has retired it Along with the obsolete Era Say-When (An era not better, but broader and wetter), No cry from the past can restore it again. It leaves me forever a memory debtor, Whose claims I can never wipe out with a check, The glorious sweater, the mammoth-sized sweater, The pull-over sweater that rolled at the neck. Elias Lieberman. load and not cough and not in. So not in, not in, not in a, not in a carload. And not cough and not a and not a cough but in. And not a cough and not a cough in and not a cough in a and not a cough in a car but not a cough in a carload. Al Graham. comicbooks.com