Life, 1928-04-05 · page 24 of 59
Life — April 5, 1928 — page 24: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two distinct pieces of satire: **Top cartoon**: An absent-minded professor loses his way while driving, and his wife asks if he's certain he had the road when he left home—a joke about his forgetfulness being so extreme that he might have misplaced the actual road itself. **Main article "Not Guilty, Your Honor"**: A satirical piece where infamous historical villains (Herod, Lucrezia Borgia, Nero, Captain Kidd, and Attila) defend their atrocities by claiming temporary insanity or medical conditions. Each blames their crimes on periodic mental lapses rather than character, mocking the legal defense strategy of pleading mental illness. The satire suggests people were using dementia praecox (an early term for schizophrenia) and similar conditions as convenient excuses for bad behavior. **Bottom cartoon**: An Eskimo waits for mail in early April, reasoning it's too early for delivery—likely mocking either slow postal service or unrealistic expectations in remote regions. The page satirizes both individual absent-mindedness and the era's growing use of psychiatric explanations to evade moral responsibility.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Net SOT es . att i “ie nti ey, on ie ABSENT-MINDED Proressor: Elizabeth, I believe I have lost the road. ABSENT-MINDED Proressor’s Wire: Are you certain you had it when you left the house? Not Guilty, Your Honor Presto! “TI F I live to be a thousand,” said = which strikes me now and then, and Hest (introducing guest): Herod, “I will still feel sorry when it does I simply must go out And this is Mr. Thurston, the for that last batch of little boys 1 and mow down a little v tion or famous magician. slaughtered. However, it’s not my whatever else gets in my w: Gvrst (brightly): Howdy, Mr. fault if [ have an occasional spell of David B. Park. Thurston. How's tricks? dementia priecox.” “It’s true, I suppose, that I have poisoned a few of my friends,” ob- served Lucrezia Borgia, “but why all the insinuations? If one has chronic hypochondria, one has it, that’s all.” “T can truthfully sa remarked Nero, “that I never threw a Chris- tian to the lions when I was in my right mind. The periodic lapses I have can easily be traced to a second cousin on my father’s side.” 1 probably known,” mused Cap- tain Kidd. he only time I get any publicity is when my unfortunate de- rangement is upon me and my pre- dilection for hanging and quarter- ing comes to the front.” “By nature,” stated Attila, “I am a peace-loving, unromantic soul, but I have a mild streak of insanity, Disapro:nteD Eskimo: Oh, well, it’s only the beginning of April and I guess it’s more in the nature of an aberration, still too early for the morning mail to be in, comicbooks.com