Life, 1927-12-29 · page 33 of 41
Life — December 29, 1927 — page 33: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a satirical sketch about the Eskimo Club's winter swimming tradition at Lake Minnetonka, Wisconsin. The humor centers on the contrast between members' bravado and their physical misery. The joke: Club members gather to take a midwinter plunge through ice, performing exaggerated toughness (doing the Charleston, cracking jokes) while clearly freezing. Their teeth chatter, hands turn blue, and three immediately flee to the bus—yet the President insists he could "stay in forever," claiming only marital obligations force him out. The Secretary dutifully records everything, including a reconciliation involving a pun about "brick" (meaning both courage and the cold feeling). The satire mocks masculine posturing and club ritual: men enduring genuine suffering for tradition and appearance, while maintaining false cheerfulness for cameras and spectators. It's gentle mockery of both the foolish tradition and the social pressure to maintain dignity while clearly miserable. The accompanying advertisements (Murad cigarettes, incense burner joke) are unrelated period filler.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The Eskimo Club’s Annual Midwinter Swim An Exposure Scexe: Lake Minnemoowaukce, N. HM. A cold, blustery January day. (As the curtain rises, nothing is to be seen save the smooth expanse of the lake. Ona tall pole at one end hangs a red ball, to indicate that the skating is good. Presently a group of laborers appear with pickaxes and begin to cut a hole in the ice. They are followed shortly by some inter ested spectators, huddled in fur coats and steamer blankets. The Presipent or Tue Eskimo Crvun en- ters, clad in a red silk bathing-suit. He romps out and dips a thermom- eter in the water. The other mem- bers follow and gather around him.) CHE SECRETARY: What's the temperature, Jim? Tur Preswent: I don't know. The mercury’s frozen, Tue Secretary: Call it 32. (Makes an entry in his minutes.) Everybody ready? Where are those cameramer A Memarn ‘re standing around that fire there. Hey, boys! Get busy with those Brownies. (The cameramen reluctantly aban- don the fire and train their cameras on the group.) Tur Presipvent: Let's do a little Charleston first. Hey, hey! (lis knees begin to knock together.) Get hot! Charleston, Charleston, Charleston, dum dee dum, da da. Secretary (fo a member): Hey, George, your teeth are chattering. Tue Mesnen (hotly): They are not! ‘Tne Secretary: Your hands are all blue, too. Look at them! Tue Memser: I'm a Yale man. Th secretary: This is no time for petty partisanships. We must ill work together for the good of the club. Cnorvs: For the good of the club, boys! Hurrah! (They dash to the hole in the ice and plunge in. Three of them im- mediately jump out again and make a dash for the club bus.) Tue Present (gurgling with delight) : Oh, boy, it’s good! I could stay in forever. A Meanen: Why don’t you? Tur Present (stiffly): I have a wife to think of. Tue Memoer: I could fix it up with her all right. Tue Presipent (climbing out and aiming at him with a snowball): Take that back or I'll soak you. Tue Secretary: Yes, make him take it back, Jim, or I'll have to put it in the minutes. Tue Presipent (to the Mem- ber): You hear that? Wea EMBARRASSING MOMEN When her ting party + happens in upon the pet- be nonchalant . . + light a MURAD CIGARETTE MURAD For those who feel entitled to life’s better things © 1927, P. Lorillard Co., Eat. 1760 Tue Memper (extending hand): I'm sorry. Let's be friends. Tue Preswwent (shaking the Memper’s hand): All right....My, what a cold hand! Tue Memner: It means a warm heart. (To the Secretary.) Put that in the minutes. Tue Presipent: Well, boys, we've Let's all 1 shower. had enough for one day. get warmed up in the Cuorvs or \ Tue Presipent: / invited to my house for tea. sit in the Frigidaire and talk over old times. Tur Trecerent Memnrer: Jim Armstrong, you're a brick Tue Secretary: Bravo! (Gets out his notebook). How do you spell “brick”? Curtain. N. R. J. His Savings Wiped Out “POOR George “What's his latest hard luc! “After savin seven years he f ple more years he'd have enough to obacco coupons for ured that in a cou- get that fishing rod he coveted.” “What happened 2” “His wife and daughter started smoking, and in three months they all had enough coupons——" ‘o get the fishing roc No; to get a hand-carved incense burner. Bill Sykes. Officially Christmas ATED AND CONCEITED JUVENILE: Mother, dear, I feel that I should get a lot more pleasure out of these prettics if I weren't quite so sophisticated. comicbooks.com,