Life, 1928-03-08 · page 27 of 43
Life — March 8, 1928 — page 27: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three satirical pieces mocking early 1920s American social pretensions and attitudes. **"Just Between Us Girls"** (top cartoon and text): Mocks affected, verbose young women aspiring to artistic careers. The character speaks in exaggerated, capitalized words, breathlessly describing meeting a theatrical producer and suddenly deciding to write a play. The satire targets the affected speech patterns and shallow artistic ambitions of young women seeking cultural legitimacy—likely inspired by post-WWI women's increasing social freedom and participation in arts/theater. **"Ignorance"** (middle): A brief dialogue joke contrasting claimed ignorance with actual military experience. A "leatherneck" (Marine) claims to know nothing about war while listing combat wounds and military actions, satirizing false modesty or the disconnect between experience and admission. **"Good Old Egg"** (bottom): Two elderly men discuss youth "headed for destruction," but the second optimistically hopes they'll take their saxophones and ukuleles—mocking older generations' moral panics about jazz-age youth culture while gently suggesting the concern is overblown.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
For a Dark Day WHEN winter twilight, pale and thin, Has drawn the shade and shut us in: When darkness comes to steal away The prematurely ended day When everything is dim and dreary, ‘And you are sick at heart, and weary, Just think how spring is near at hand To cheer this cold, benighted land! Just think how March will soon be over, And April's almost at the door Just think of this and that, my coz, And see how little good it does. Norman R. Jaffray. Ignorance OUGHBOY: Aw, what do you know about war? Leatuerneck: Nothin’, buddy. Not a thing. War's somethin’ I don't know nothin’ about. But I got two medal an intervention, three machete cuts in a pacification and six bullet wounds in a punitive expe- dition. Lavy oF tHE House: Well, I'm sorry to lose you, Kate, but I suppose you are leaving Life SUST BETWEEN “M* dear, I'm ACtually GUR- gitating with GLEE at this point because I'm HON: SO ¢x- ClITed I could BUTter B 3, no less, because I mean I’m WRITing a PLAY at this point—can you BEAR it, my dear? GOSH, I’m SIMply THRILLED about the situation, my dear, because I mean I've ALways been all-of-a-SHIV-and-TINGle to exPRESS myself, sort of, in some ar- TIStic MEdium or something be- cause I REALly think the iDEA is TERribly inTRIguing—I mean I ACtually DO! Well, ANYways, my to better your situation. Derartinc Cook: Oh, no, ma'am; I'm leaving to get married. us GIRLS dear, you see I MET this simply FAScinating MAN who does SOME- thing to PLAYS and knows Bel- ASco and all those odd souls who sort of proDUCE plays and things, and I mean we had this simply tre- MENdous TALK about the THE- ATRE, my dear, and I was SIMply enTHRALLED and CAPtivated, no less, because I mean this man was AWfully inTELligent and he said I ought to write a PLAY, my dear, because he said my converSAtion was AWfully oRIGinal, sort of, and if I could just sort of WRITE the way I TALKED and sort of put DOWN all these odd iDEAS I had and everything it would make a simply MARvelous PLAY, my dear —can you BEAR it? I mean I was HONestly all - of -a - BIB - and - TUCKer with enTHUsiasm because I REALIy think if I could sort of PUT in this PLAY just what I FEEL about LIFE and everything it would be a simply tre MENdous HIT, my dear, do you know what I mean? Because I mean I think MOST of these plays you see nowa- days are just a lot of TRIPE that people write to make MONey out of or something and not because they have arTIStic iDEALS and all, so I'm ACtually going to start IN writing this PLAY as soon as I can sort of think UP an inTRIguing way of sort of beGINning it—I mean I ACtually AM!" Lloyd Mayer. Good Old Egg IRST OLDSTER: The young folks of to-day are headed for destruction. Seconp Otpster: Well, let’s hope they take their saxophones and ukuleles along. comicbooks.com