Life, 1927-12-01 · page 47 of 80
Life — December 1, 1927 — page 47: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page from *Life* magazine satirizes two social behaviors: **"Just Between Us Girls"** mocks upper-class women's hypocritical attitudes about Christmas gift-giving. The writer complains that exchanging presents is vulgar and commercial, yet simultaneously reveals she's carefully curating her own gift list. The exaggerated capitalization of random words mimics breathless, affected speech—satirizing the pretentious way wealthy women spoke about "proper" behavior while being transparently selfish. The satire targets the contradiction: condemning gift-giving as crass while judging others by what they receive. **The cartoon below** depicts a dinner party where a woman, attempting to impress by speaking French to a waiter, mispronounces something. When guests laugh, she's told the waiter is German—implying he didn't understand her "perfect French" anyway. This satirizes social pretension and the foolishness of showing off in foreign languages without genuine competence. Both pieces mock middle-to-upper-class affectation and the gap between professed values and actual behavior.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
i 4 Sseosussscee~ Christmas C= Gi €¢ SO Number? « oy a —" eee ae POL by ae a | Y Just Between Us Girls “MY dear, I'm all hot and BOTHered—I mean send YOU one—I mean they're practicably ready to I'm honestly so MAD I could gargle BUTter- ROLL over and BUTter themselves with disMAY, milk at this point because I REALIy think it's but, GOSH, my dear, I HONestly wish people like SIMply FOUL the way EV'rybody sort of feels it that WOULDn't send me a THING because I mean reCUMbent on them to sort of send PRESents when somebody just sends you a present sponTAne- ne a Ae! eae iy WILDly round to EV'rybody at CHRISTmas time — ously it makes ALL the DIF'rence but when they send | 4 Hy, because I m think it just SPOILS it just because they sort of feel they HAVE to I s} , the whole iDI STmas! I mean don’t you think it’s LOUSy. I mean I'm ONly giving presents 1 iS REALIy think it’s a TERribly SORdid custom, sort to just a FEW terribly INtimate FRIENDS like ty iq of? Because I mean it sort of enCOURages every- YOU, my dear, and I want you to PROMise vt EF} | body to be awfully sort of avaRIcious or something FAITHfully you won't feel you have to give me a | h* £4 | and just CONsecrate on what they can get OUT THING—I mean I ACtually DO!" “8 | of you. Well, ANYways, I really WISH everybody Lloyd Mayer. | didn’t put so much EMphasis on the PRESent situa- — A tion, because I think HEAPS of people just sort “TPHEY laughed when I started to speak to the ff | JUDGE you by what you give them for CHRIST- waiter in perfect French.” ff | mas, which is a perfectly VILE iDEA, because “Why was th: | t/} | s'pos'n you SEND somebody a present who doesn’t “Because the waiter was a German.” b Py = = Sa Se aes Pens SSIs ane a mn — en x Bor ee y; gta eos comicbooks.com