Life, 1927-12-15 · page 8 of 40
Life — December 15, 1927 — page 8: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three distinct satirical pieces: 1. **"The Urge of Night"** - A poem by Carroll Carroll about nighttime anxieties and supernatural torments, likely reflecting post-WWI anxieties about modern life's psychological pressures. 2. **Top cartoon** - Shows a "grim lady" confronting a bootlegger about her husband's liquor purchases, satirizing Prohibition-era bootlegging and marital discord over secret drinking. 3. **"Glossary of Drug-Store Terms"** - Humorous definitions mocking American drug-store culture, including patrons ("your wife"), waitresses, and cashiers. The accompanying cartoon shows a "p-p-prize-fight re-re-referee" - likely mocking speech impediments or nervous mannerisms of working-class men. This satirizes both drug-store social hierarchies and stereotypes about working people. The page reflects 1920s concerns: Prohibition, marital tension, and class-based social observation.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
e GRIM LADY: Are you the man who's been BOOTLEGGER: Why—ah—er ling my husband liquor? —that is... GRIM LADY: What I want to know is, can you make him a better price if he buys it by the case? Glossary of Drug-Store Terms RUG STORE: Any shop han- dling automobile tires, liquor, pincushions and Feature articles now being widely and thickly syndicated and supposed to bestow “rr upon the Cosmetics: “What is your occupation, Mr. Skwibbe?"" “['m a p-p-p-prize-f-fight re-re-ref- referee."" Patron: Your wife or any other addict of the Drug Habit: Habit of sitting down at one of the little tables and ordering a Special: Any indigestible confec- tion on which the price has been raised for that day, sometimes called a Luncheonette: Something which under microscopic examination might prove to be a cheese sandwich, and is supposed to be served by The female imbecile who lets you sit there half an hour and then tells you to get a check from the Cashier: The woman your wife accuses you of flirting with when all the time you were looking at the Cigar Counter: The blonde baby who counts out the cigars and is probably married to the silly-looking ass who sells the Stationery: A word which, spelled differently, would apply to any clerk supposed to be waiting on any tomer, or to the Waitress: cus- Pharmacist: Licensed bootlegger. Asia Kagowan. The Urge of Night WHEN night, like mystic, occult lore, Surrounds me still; When goblins prowl and witches sour On broomsticks over field and hill and the world. is Ah, what an anguish grips me then And at my very vitals gnaws; Prometheus knew such torment when Attacked by vicious eagle claws. So, racked by torture, there I lic Till suffering must be allayed; Then rising from my pallet 1 Embark upon an ice-box raid Carroll Carroll. A Pardonable Error URA is healthy but frightfully rude.” rhe poor thing mixed up her ads a lot of yeast instead of read- ing Elbert Hubbard's Scrapbook.” F we were a Mexican we wouldn't choose to run for President, either. EARLY ITALIAN ARCHITECT (having just finished the Leaning Tower of Pisa): Well, that's done. And it's some tower, I'm thinking. FRIEND: I think so too, old man. You've got the right slant on it, all right. comicbooks.com