Life, 1928-03-22 · page 30 of 34
Life — March 22, 1928 — page 30: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This 1928 *Life* page satirizes contemporary foolishness through caricatures and jokes. The top section mocks famous composers by depicting them engaged in absurd physical gestures—Beethoven conducting wildly, Rossini appearing frantic—labeled "Aut Scissor out Nullus" (roughly "all scissors, nothing else"), likely ridiculing modern musical composition as excessive gesture over substance. The page includes social humor: a doctor's obesity patient excited about diet results; a Chinese cook/servant exchange using racist dialect; jokes about split infinitives (grammatical pedantry); and architectural satire mocking nouveau-riche pretension. The final cartoon depicts two aristocrats discussing "Lord Dasham"—one claims to have shot at his estate (his "seat"), prompting confusion about whether offense was taken. This plays on class distinctions and the absurdity of upper-class social protocols. Overall, the page targets linguistic pedantry, class pretension, modern excess, and social affectation—typical *Life* magazine targets of the Jazz Age era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Beetnoven Tue Pray On or Hanvs (Dr. Leone Theremin has invented a radio apparatus by means of which b can waving his hands.) That for the Purists! I rove to nonchalantly split The smug. infinitives. To thus impair their savoir faire Huge satisfaction gives. Though it betrays my brutal strain, 1 openly admit Infinitives I hanker to Irreparably split !—Yale Record. SCIENTIST proposes to fly to the shaped rocket. Spring- cleaning has evidently broken out al- ready in his home. —Humorist (London). Noble Architect of Leaning Tower of Pisa: AXD THAT, 1 THINK, DISPOSES OF THAT NOUVEAU-RICHS COMTESSINA’S N TO BUILD WER TUPPENNY-IA’PENNY BUNGALOW ON THE VACANT LOT RIGHT BE- SIDE MY TOWER-RESIDENCE. —Dublin Opinion. “Se Rosstxt Waoner Don't Give Up the Quip PARAGRAP IE ers are getting nervous. It is al- most time for the President to choose a site for his sum- mer vacation, and he t possibly give occasion for another line so good as “Over the Black Hills to the White House.” —Detroit News. Tux worst will not have happened, however, until the paper bath-towel is invented and thrust upon us. —Ohio State Journal. —Guerin Meschino (Milan). A Testimonial \ poctor who is noted for his obesity treatment received the following letter recently from a golfing patient: “Dear Doctor,—That diet you put me on to is working wonders. Yesterday for the first time for months I holed out the penultimate button of my dress waisteoat."—London Daily Chronicle. Chinese Cook: Get ovta Tits, YoU BLACK cow. EM OUT YOURSELF, YOU OW CAR. Jacky: you orv PLURRY —Smith’s Weekly (Sydney). A sew German remedy for seasick- ness is called Nauseatin. It sounds like a counter-irritant.—Arkansas Gazette. Davoren (after severe lecture): Ob, Mum, you're too early-Victorian, This is 1928, not 1927.—Punch, — e Sportsman: THAT's LORD DASHAM. I'VE SHOT AT HI3 SEAT, YOU KNOW. Non-Sportsman: 1 say! MAD HE MADE YOU MOST FRIGHTFULLY ANNOYED ABOUT SOMETHING, THEN? —London Opinion. comicbooks.com