Life, 1927-12-01 · page 68 of 80
Life — December 1, 1927 — page 68: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page collects brief satirical jokes and anecdotes targeting contemporary American society, circa 1920s-1930s. **Main cartoon** (top): A jungle scene where animals mimic human vanity—apes groom themselves after hearing a film photographer is coming. This mocks societal obsession with appearance and media attention. **Key jokes satirize:** - **Military bureaucracy**: A discharged soldier's "honorable discharge" card lists "mental deficiency" as the reason—absurdist humor about military incompetence. - **Modern women**: A countrified visitor expects her sophisticated friend to be interested in old-fashioned activities like sewing, but the modern woman dismisses such notions. - **Class anxiety**: A millionaire hires someone else to play golf for him—ridicule of the wealthy's performative leisure. - **Author's desperation**: A playwright at a booed premiere realizes if the audience discovers he wrote it, they'll boo him too—self-deprecating humor about artistic failure. The satire targets pretension, bureaucratic absurdity, and social climbing—typical Life magazine concerns of the era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
~ sae An Ex-Service Man “Wene you ever in the army, Joe?” one war vet facetiously inquired of a hungry - looking cole man who was loafing nearby. . suh, cap'n, I shuah was. I was in the ahmy for two weeks.” He fished in an over- alls pocket and drew out a card. “This heah cahd will prove it,” he xorr—“nun= finished proudly. NING REPAIRS, The “eap'n” took —Bulietin (Sydney), one glance and "gasped. The card read: “Honorably discharged because of mental deficiency.” } —Washington Cougar’s Pave. MOTOR “THE BIOGER THEY ARE THE HARDER TITEY PALL.” —Dartmouth Jack-o'-Lantern \s \t A BUSY TIME IN THE JUNGLE BEAUTY PARLOR FOLLOWING T Mh OF A FILM PlLOTOGRA: NNOUNCEMENT OF THE APPROACIE —Punch (London), by permission, A Voice from the Past 1 is a very modern young woman, She runs an office and smokes cigarettes with her fingers properly limp and is ned at anything. Well, hardly ever astonished at anything. But the other day a friend of hers from out of town wed into town and looked her up. ‘They said they simply must see more of e ‘The girl from out of town h “Pll tell you w with enthusiasm, me and bring your sewing.” -New York Sun. Forced Landing “Coxroenn it,” cried a passenger who had been tumbled to the pavement. “Can't you wait till I get off?” “Huh! returned the street-car motor- man, “If you ain't off now you never will be."—Nansas City Star. never aste she said, me down and see Worried “Mas. Ike Lark is all worked up fer fear her boy'll be drafted fer Thompson's war with England."—Abe Martin, in Indianapolis News. Pronantx drug store sign in 1930: “Rooms and Board. ~Louisville Times. Heard in a Movie Theatre “Wuar is that a picture of” asked a small tot. “That's the Goddess of Liberty,” Big Brother replied. “You can always tell her ‘cause she’s got an ice-cream cone in her hand.” Leesburg (Fla.) Commercial, Wuar is apparently the very apex of executive efficiency has been achieved by a millionaire in Washington who retained a prominent amateur to play his golf. —Detroit News. No Alternative Author (at first performance of hit play, which is being booed by the house): GOOD HEAVENS! 1 SHALL ITAVE To ROO, TOO, Ok THEY'LL FIND OUT THAT 1 WROTE IT. Windsor Magazine (London). comicbooks.com 5