Life, 1928-02-02 · page 7 of 38
Life — February 2, 1928 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes women's workplace issues and social customs of the early 20th century. The top cartoon shows a wife asking her husband about "calendar reform" — a historical movement to standardize the calendar. His comical misunderstanding (thinking the Pope came from their grocer) jokes about men's indifference to women's intellectual pursuits. The main article, "Better Working Conditions for Working Girls!," presents absurd "reforms" as satire: rules about saleslady attentiveness, telephone operators interrupting conversations, and waitresses wearing ear muffs. These ridiculous suggestions mock the actual poor conditions working women faced while highlighting how employers and society dismissed their legitimate grievances. The cartoons below ("The Chorus Girl Makes a Left Turn," "The Strenuous Life") continue satirizing social expectations and economic precarity affecting working women and the working class generally.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Wirt: John, I'm writing a paper on calendar reform for our club. Do you know which Pope fave us our present calendar? Huspanp: Pope? Good heavens! I thought it came from our grocer. Better Working Conditions for Working Girls! ] NO saleslady shall be expected * to pay the slightest attention to a customer until the latter has in- quired for the third time if this is the glove counter. When a reply is deigned it shall be along the general line of, “Well, ya see the gloves, doncha?” 2. As a reward for past services a special class called “Disconnection O pe rators” shall be installed in every tele- phone exchange, their duties being simply to disconnect sub- scribers in the middle of im- portant conversations. If, how- ever, the conversation is trivial, or if one party to it is ob- viously anxious to break away, they need pay no attention. 3. Waitresses in restaurants shall be provided with ear- mufis in order to eliminate the necessity of listening to the patrons’ orders. If half a broiled spring chicken is called for and the waitress brings ham and beans, the accepted retort in each instance shall The Opening Gun of a Great Crusade be: “Well, ya ordered ham an’ beans. I guess I ain't deef, am I?” 4. In the future no blonde movie star shall be called upon to portray any intelligence in her countenance. The rule in the past has been that they depict at least one-half of one per cent of intelligence, and this has The Chorus Girl Makes a Left Turn been proving pretty much of a strain. 5. Girls contemplating shooting their husbands or sweethearts may have twenty-four hours in advance to telephone newspapers in order that front pages may be cleared for them. All transoceanic hops, heavyweight boxing matches, wars, and other items likely to obtrude on the space shall be postponed. Probably a lot of other beneficial measures will occur to us from time to time, but these will do for a starter. Tip Bliss. The Strenuous Life UDGE: Why have you not made these alimony pay- ments? Derenvant: I can’t start till week after next, Judge. There are still two install- ments due on the engagement ring. IKEWISE, a fool and his money are soon petted, comicbooks.com