Life, 1928-02-16 · page 16 of 38
Life — February 16, 1928 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes the theatrical presentation of weather forecasts. The top cartoon shows a man literally "fishing" for an audience—a pun on how a five-hour play about weather forecasts might struggle to attract viewers. The main article, "The Weatherman Hires a Movie Press Agent to Write His Forecasts," mocks the U.S. Weather Bureau's increasingly theatrical language. Rather than plain predictions, the forecasts are written with Hollywood drama—promising "epic" storms, "stupendous climatological climax," and "brutally astounding blending of rain, snow, hail." The bottom cartoon depicts women discussing someone named Mabel, questioning whether she'd "die of old age in the midst of the Head Hunters," suggesting Mabel is caught between extreme weather conditions the forecasts describe. The satire critiques both sensationalized weather reporting and 1920s-30s media excess.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
cou cot al op pri “They've just put on a play in New York that will run five hours.” “It'll be a flop! How can you expect an audience to cough that long?” fa The Weatherman Hires a Movie Press hgent to Write His Forecasts ; ONDAY AND TUESDAY: grandest, prettiest, sweetest, most States Weather Bureau by special TI The most superb, gloriously —ylorious and gorgeous weather of all arrangement with the Department of Fr fair and marvelously mild weather —time!...Released through the United ict 3 Chet Johnson, of the century. Whispering weste ly m sa A riot of soothing Y > and bed mirthful mercury !...'Two wonder- a ful, daring days and nights you'll never forget! j Ra nt . It’ Wednesday and Thursday: An i ’ : = up amazingly meteorological achieve- : ; Ss \ \s f ve ment!...See the colossal, gripping : 1 , fe ra struggle for supremacy between a powerful, mighty, ruthless low bar- ometric pressure area and a sweet, i 4 TZ , “] tender high pressure zone!... You'll thrill!... You'll laugh!... You'll ery ! :And you'll never guess how it is going to end! Friday and Saturday: The storm supreme! Don't miss it! An epic of the elements that will have you cheering one moment and cringing the next!...Positively the most stupendous climatological climax since the Biblical deluge! .-A crac ling, thundering electrical display that will make you tremble! ++Never again will you see such a brutally astounding blending of rain, snow, hail and how! Sunday: Clearing and Warmer! The last stand of the mighty storm, beaten to its knees!...A heart-throb- ber that will out-humoresque ‘“Hu- “Is Mabel really as dumb as she looks?” moresque!”... The biggest, mightiest, “Why, she'd die of old age in the midst of the Head Hunters!” comicbooks.com