Life, 1928-05-10 · page 36 of 50
Life — May 10, 1928 — page 36: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page from *Life* magazine collects short humorous anecdotes and a comic strip. The main cartoon, "The Amateur Androcles and the Over-Grateful Lion," depicts slapstick physical comedy between two men and appears to be a visual gag (the reference to Androcles alludes to the classical tale of gratitude). The text humor largely relies on racial stereotypes common to early 20th-century American comedy. "Grand News" and "Revived" feature African American characters speaking in exaggerated dialect ("Dat's fine!"). These pieces mock both gambling addiction and racial caricatures. Other jokes satirize marriage, industrial workplace safety bonds, and the proposed five-day work week—treating self-improvement cynically as likely to drive workers back to saloons. The page's overall tone is light satirical commentary on contemporary American life, though the racial content reflects deeply offensive period attitudes now unacceptable.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
LIFE Our Foolish. Contemporaries “Aut Scissors aut Nullus” THE AMATEUR ANDROCLES AND TIE OVER-GRATEFUL LION. SAFETY AFTERWARD Wues the amount of his bond was in- recently, an empl of a large industrial concern was given a paper to ing on it,” he observed, as he perused the text with great interest. “Huh!” remarked the clerk with the paper. “I'll bet you didn’t read your mar- riage license that carefully.” “Maybe not,” was the reply, “but ever since I signed that I'm reading ererything!” —Youngstown Telegram. WHO'D HAVE THOUGHT IT? “Haven’r you heard?—Mary just mar- ried Bill Hendricks!” “Bill Hendricks! Not really! Why, that was the man she was engaged to!” —Princeton Tiger. Over position is that a baby born in a tornado finds out entirely too early what life is like-—Dallas News, —Gutiérrez (Madrid). GRAND NEWS A Los Avcetes patrolman had brought in a Negro woman somewhat the worse for wear and the desk sergeant, with his very best scowl, roared: “Liza, you've been brought in for intoxi- cation! “Dat's fine!” beamed Liza. can start right now!” —Los Angeles Times. “Boy, you BACKSLIDING Wuewn we get the five-day week, to the end that the workers may have more time for self-improvement, we imagine a pretty strong sentiment will develop for the return of the old saloon. —Ohio State Journal, A New Yorx swimmer broke all records when she stayed thirty-two hours in a bath- ing pool. It would be exasperating to want to shave, mornings, at her boarding house. —Detroit News. REVIVED Gravety I doubt the truth of the ance dote, and I am uncertain of its original source, but it seems there was a Negro boot- black named Sam. He took a chance in a Harlem lottery and next day came the news that his ticket had won a prize of $5,000, Sam disappeared and was seen no more about his place of business, though there were rumors that he had been observed at this cabaret or another. However, the jam- boree was too extensive to be confined to any single city, and the celebration took its owner almost all the way around the world. Upon the morning of the first day of the second year Sam returned. He was without shoes and hatless. Ragged and unkempt, be made a pitiful plea for the return of his old job and got it. And then one morning before a month was up there came into the shop an agent for lottery tickets. Sam yielded to his blandishments and took a moderate flyer. Three days later the agent bounded in and slapped the _bootblack smartly across the shoulder blades. “I sup- pose,” he said (I forgot to mention that all the conversation is done in Negro dialect— Ep.), “that you are just about the luckiest man in the whole United States.” “What's the matter?” asked Sam, sus piciously. “Why, just a year ago you won and now within a week you win again, and this time you got $10,000,” explained the agent. “Oh, Lordy, Lordy !" exclaimed Sam. “Do I have to go through all that again? —New York World. “His face was disfigured. As long as I can re member, he has had a car on his face.”—Short Story. Tu long-suffering pedestrian! —Humorist (London). Wife: you CAME HOME TEN MIN- UTES AGO. WHY DON’T YOU COME UP ‘TO BED? Husband (convivially): rs-rscats- Tor’s OUT OF ORDER, MY DEAR. —London Opinion. comicbooks.com