Life, 1928-02-09 · page 22 of 35
Life — February 9, 1928 — page 22: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes radio sports broadcasting and California boosterism circa the 1920s-30s. **The Main Cartoon (top):** A radio announcer's play-by-play account of a football game devolves into breathless promotion of Southern California's climate and attractions—flowers, mountains, movie stars, oil wells. The joke is that the announcer keeps forgetting the game itself to tout California's wonders. The opening cartoon mocks Westerners' attachment to old-fashioned clothing despite the supposedly perfect weather. **The Side Cartoons:** - A domestic joke about a cat ("Mrs. Tabby") with multiple lives - A flirtation scene satirizing romantic dialogue ("do you love me?") **The Satire:** Life is mocking 1920s-30s California hype and promotional culture—how boosters obsessively marketed the state's climate and natural resources. The absurd details (radio from an airplane, oil gushing from a football field) exaggerate this tendency. This was relevant when California actively marketed itself to attract Eastern residents and investment during rapid growth periods.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“Funny the way these Westerners stick to the old clothes, ain’t it?” Radio Account of Football Game Played in Southern California “AXTELL, folks, Smultz has just kicked off for Lowland and the ball is now high in the beautiful California sunshine. Casey caught the ball for Pottsville on his own ten-yard line and I can just see the moon peeping over the top of Mount Baldy. “You folks back East have no idea how beautiful it is out here. “Brennan just made five yards through left tackle and I have just taken off my coat and vest and if it gets any warmer I am going to discard my woolen handkerchief. “I have my suspicions of Mrs. Tabby.” “What do you mean?” “Well, I don’t know anything definite, but I think she’s been leading eighteen lives.” “Pottsville just completed a twenty-five-yard forward pass and Knon Kompis, director of First Con- glomerated Pictures, has just stopped by to say that only this morning he saw a black-eyed Susan pushing its way up through a con- crete sidewalk in Hollywood. “You folks back t have no idea how beautiful it is out here. “Pottsville now has the ball on Lowland’s for! line and twelve movi have just passed by carrying huge garlands of American Beauties. Perhaps you folks back East don’t know that all the flowers here grow right out in the rain, no arti- ficial flowers being tolerated. Murphy of Pottsville has just drop-kicked a goal from the thirty-yard line and the ball sailed right over the wall and landed in a bunch of pineap- ples growing in a vacant lot. “Smultz is again kicking off for Lowland and an avia- tor who is taking in the game from an altitude of six thou- sand feet has just radioed down that the climate is even better when viewed from that altitude. He also says that the banana plantations at the foot of Mount Baldy look simply gorgeous. “Well, folks, it won’t be long now. It looks like ice. Ha! Ha! Ice in California! That's a hot one! Lowland is going to attempt a field goal. Here they go. The ball is snapped. Smultz swings his mighty right foot. What's that? A gusher of oil? Yes! Smultz stubbed his toe underneath the ball and he struck oil! “You folks back East: 2 P.M. Mongan, He: I love your lips, your eyes, your nose, your throat, your hair, your ears, your cheeks, your hands, your arms, your form, your poise, your |) charm, your—— Pottsville has this game on Sue: Yes, but do you love me? comicbooks.com