Life, 1927-12-15 · page 24 of 40
Life — December 15, 1927 — page 24: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three satirical pieces reflecting early 20th-century social attitudes: **"Too Good"** mocks African American dialect and working-class economics. The joke depends on stereotypical speech patterns to suggest that buying a washing machine represents excessive pampering—reflecting the era's dismissive attitudes toward both Black workers and labor-saving technology for ordinary people. **"The Dining-Car Steward Entertains at Home"** satirizes service-industry staff who adopt obsequious formality in their personal lives, unable to relax even at home. The steward's constant solicitude about comfort mirrors his professional manner absurdly. **"Pretty Dreadful"** presents a patient cataloging serious illnesses (tuberculosis, appendicitis, diabetes) with deadpan understatement, then reveals the punchline: it was actually a difficult spelling test. The joke relies on contrast between grave medical conditions and trivial academic struggle. The chiropractor joke at bottom mocks pseudoscientific medicine through a pun about "feeling it in your bones." All three pieces use exaggeration and reversal to critique their subjects, typical of Life's satirical approach.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Too Good “I 'spects I'se pamperin’ mah wife too much." “Ts dat a fact?” “Yassuh, I done bought her a washin’ machine.”* The Dining-Car Steward Entertains at Home Pretty Dreadful “LTOW was the roast, Jack; all thing’s not to your liking? I'm NEVER had such a tough time in right? Was the seasoning to too damned solicitous about your my life. First I got angina pee- your liking? And the gravy? 1 welfare? You want me to keep my _ toris, followed by arteriosclerosis. hope that the coffee was made the mouth shut? All right, I will, Now, Just as I was recovering from way you prefer it. And how about — let me ask you just once again, old these I got tuberculosis, double the dessert? Was it tasty and pal- man, is everything entirely satisfac- pneumonia and phthisis. ‘Then they atable? Good. Now I hope that — tory? Ouch!* gave me hypodermies. you enjoyed your night's rest in your Arthur T.. Lippmann. Appendicitis was followed by a room. Was the ventilation agreeable tonsillotomy. ‘These gave way to aphasia and hypertrophic cirrhosis. I completely lost my memory for a while. I know I had diabetes and acute indigestion, besides gastritis, rheu- and were there enough blankets on the bed? Did the bed light burn properly and were the books on the table to your liking? / And the Did the needle spray rdance with your de- shower, work in : sires? Is your chair comfort- . old man? Ts. everythi O. K., WHAT! ‘Some- matism, lumbago and neuritis. I don’t know how T pulled through it. It was the hardest spelling test I've ever seen, cc. CIMROPRACTOR: Well, I'm afraid it’s going to rain again to-day. PATIENT: How do you figure that out? CHIROPRACTOR: I can feel it in your bones. comicbooks.com