Life, 1928-01-26 · page 9 of 34
Life — January 26, 1928 — page 9: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three pieces of humor content: 1. **"A Young Man Sends His First Joke to a Humor Magazine"** — A monologue by Nathaniel Fein satirizing aspiring comedians. The young man nervously pitches a joke to his mother, worrying it might offend her, then obsesses over whether an editor will accept it. The satire targets the pretentiousness and anxiety of amateur humorists trying to break into magazine publishing. 2. **"The Absent-Minded Pug"** — A cartoon showing a man and woman at a social gathering with a distracted pug dog, illustrating the stereotype of absent-minded behavior in pets. 3. **"A Woman's Last Word"** — A poem by John McColl about a woman's final letter to a departing lover, expressing resignation and heartbreak while maintaining dignity. It reflects period attitudes about gendered emotional expression.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
A Young Man Sends His First Joke to a Humor Magazine OW listen, Mom, I'll read it once more to you before I send it off. Now don’t laugh just because you're my mother or anything like that. Get what I mean? Reader interest, see? Listen—‘He: (or maybe it would be better to have it ‘Charley’ or some funny name.... No, I suppose ‘he’ will be all right.) He: That man over there is a rich baker. She: Yes, but he kneads a lot of dough Gee whiz, Mom, cut the hysterics, willya? Before you know I'll have a swelled head! I think it’s a knockout, don’t you, Mom? Do you think I'd better put “needs” in parentheses, so the editor'll get on to it? Aw, no, I suppose he knows his business. I'll just send it as it is. If that joke doesn’t cause a revolution or some- thing down there, I'll eat static! Boy, I can just picture that old crab of an editor (aw, sure, they're all crabs, Mom, especially in the humor es), I can just picture him Sumese Genera Sumese Twin rolling over. I bet he'll call up Ring Lardner and tell it to him. Gee, Ring Lardner ought to get a kick out of that one! There's one guy that can appreciate it!...I suppose the old editor'll think I’m trying to boss the place if I say something CEARUE, met KW KELLY OF BUFFALO | 3 Tue Assent-Minvep Puc Carry the message and make it snappy! ight, sir—we'll proceed on the double. about running it in a cover design. You know, Mom, while I think of it, I bet that crack can fit in great with a cover design. You know, a big fat baker walking along and a man and woman looking at him and then you can have a lot of funny build- ings and shadows—you know, im- pressionistic. Aw, no, I won't say anything about it. He'll think I'm trying to boss the place. I'll just send it off the-way it is, huh, Mom? Now let’s see. If I send it off now, they'll get it to-morrow morning. That means I'll get the check next morning or maybe in the night mail. Anyway keep your eye on the mail, Mom—or maybe the editor'll call me up about it. Nathaniel Fein. A Woman’s Last Word “THERE'S really nothing for me to say,” She wrote in a twelve-page letter, “But life decrees that a girl must pay While a man can just forget her. There's really nothing for me to say, Only, that innocent yesterday, You vowed our love would endure for aye— I didn’t know any better! My heart is breaking, but go your way— There's really nothing for me to say!” She wrote in a twelve-page letter. John McColl. comicbooks.com