Life, 1927-12-22 · page 6 of 36
Life — December 22, 1927 — page 6: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**Top Cartoon ("Chicago Parade"):** This appears to be a satirical advertisement for a circus-style spectacle featuring a lion-tamer. The text mocks the sensationalism by listing increasingly absurd attractions (clown, machine-gun demonstrations, chariot races, pickpockets). The joke critiques how "reformers" and moral crusaders promote their campaigns through spectacular public displays rather than substantive change. **Middle Section ("The Reformers Do It"):** Commentary on a past moral reform campaign (likely anti-corset activism), noting that reformers successfully generated public outrage through newspapers and public speakers, changing social behavior—in this case, eliminating corsets at dances. **Bottom Cartoon ("How Time Drags!"):** A domestic humor joke about a newlywed wife whose marriage contract requires eight payments, with a messy home scene implying marital discord.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Jantror: Did youse send for me? Tenant: I just wanted you to help me put some anti-freeze mixture in this radiator. The Reformers Do It TRHERE’S nothing like combining — the the nation’s moral forces into a reformers, and even the maga- zines took it up and hopped on it great reform campaign. Such a with both feet. A wave of con- campaign is so prolific of results, if demnation and criticism swept the itis d right country, taking concrete form in an Remember what a hullabaloo was organized camps protest: and o when it was rly were park raised a few years 4 discovered that the ¢ ing their corsets at the dances? No Was it successful? sooner had the newspapers br a dance the news than the public 5} n corsets at rs, you? any K. Doris. Certainly ! You don’t hear of girls’ parking their more, do “Chicago Parade’’ HE Chance of a Lifetime, Folks; You Can't Afford to Miss It! See the Lion-Tamer Defy Death! Watch Him Taunt the Lion and Bare his Breast to the Lion's Paw! Hear the Lion Roar, the Only Laughing Lion Known to Science! Furthermore, Ladies and Gentle- men, We Have the Only Clown Ever Known to Double in the Des- perate Feat of Lion-Taming! He According to His Own Conception. Don't Miss the Thrilling Intro- duction by Cicero Machine Gun Unit 19. hey Positiv Will Shoot One Sp Performance! You May Be the Lucky One! Now, Folks, Before the Main Per- formance, We Have Arranged at Great Expense an Armored Chariot Race Between the Bank Messe and the Gunmen, Assisted by Mem bers of the Police Department! Gentlemanly — Pickpockets Will Now Pass Among You. Have Your Money Ready! gers B. F. How Time Drags! “FLAYE you been married long? “It will be eight payments on the second of February.” Mortier (cleaning up): Now I know what Edna meant when she said she was going to throw a party, comicbooks.com