Life, 1928-01-19 · page 11 of 38
Life — January 19, 1928 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains humorous dialogue between two Americans in Havana, joking about U.S. naval history. The speakers reference Theodore Roosevelt's "Great White Fleet," Admiral Dewey's Manila Bay victory (1898), and the Spanish-American War—early 20th-century American military exploits. The jokes play on malapropisms and dialectal speech ("thassawhatawannao"), poking fun at working-class American soldiers/sailors discussing their country's imperial adventures with casual ignorance. One cartoon depicts rowdy American servicemen in a bar. The right panel shows a woman captioned "Shake Hands with Havana"—likely referring to Cuba's status as an American sphere of influence post-Spanish-American War. The satire mocks both American military braggadocio and the cultural gap between educated readers and ordinary soldiers abroad.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Two Well-Informed Ameri- cans Meet in Havana ba HAT’LL it be, gents?” W' same thing.” “Me, too.” “What I was sayin’, Bill, is that a fella don’t mind his country going to war for a regular country like this.” “That was a great war, Joe. I guess ol’ Teddy showed ‘em a few things. Y’remember when he sent that note to the King of Spain: ‘Perdic...(you know the guy, Joe) ...alive or Ruzally dead’?” “And do y’remember that fella Lieutenant Rowan that delivered it without any address?” “Yeah. Ol’ Garcia was King of n then—Alfonso’s father.” 1 ’em up, gents?” “Yeah, Same thing.” “Me, too.” “What I was sayin’, Bill: it took nerve for ol’ Teddy to walk out of the White House and lead the Rough Riders up that hill.” “You said something, Joe. And I guess it was pretty steep; but they had horses in them days....And Dewey! Y’remember him?” “Do I? Listen, Bill: my wife's cousin Herb was with Dewey the night he took the submarine up to the mouth of the harbor and sunk it in front of the Spanish fleet!" y e Reresal, We, “That's the American who caused a sensation on the golf course to-day.” “Why, what did he do?” “He played a hole in one drink.” “Another round, gents?” “Sure!” “Attaboy !” “What I was sayin’, Bill: an’ this is jus’ between you an’ me, sce? What I was sayin’ is that we had a real navy then, Bill. Fightin’ Bob Evans!...Chased the Spanish fleet right aroun’ the world, Bill, an’ finally caught ‘em at Manila!” “An’ when Fightin’ Bob sent back that great message, Joe...that per- fly wonnerful message, Joe: ‘We have metta enemy an’ we ain’t be- gunna fight....’” “Come on, boy—show us some night life. We can’t wait around here all day.” “How about one on the house, gents?” “Whynot?” “'Xactly !” “What I was sayin’, Bill: y'memera Battle of Santiago?” “Who says I didn’t, thasswhattawannano!” “Well, thassawright, see? Say, where wuzza Battla Sanniago?” “T don’t care where, see?” “Well, I do, see?... Hey, barten’er: where wuzza Battla Sanniago fit?” “T'm not sure, gents, but I always thought it was at Santiago.” “Aw, nononono! You're drunk, fella! Sanni. . .San-ti-ago... Tha’s right, ain't it? Well, tha’s in Chile!” Chet Johnson. How Come? ION TAMER: I hear there's been a scandal in the freak show. Rina Master: Yes, one of the Siamese Twins discovered that her sister is leading a double life. [4™ now the most popular man in town; because all the rest have learned to speak French in fifteen delightful minutes a day, leaving me the only one who can be impressed by their new-found charm and cul- comicbooks.com