Life, 1928-07-19 · page 36 of 40
Life — July 19, 1928 — page 36: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This single-panel cartoon depicts a social embarrassment scenario: a man in a hat has given a hat-check boy a penny instead of a dime, earning a disapproving look. The cartoon's "solution" is to light a MURAD cigarette—implying that appearing nonchalant and sophisticated (via smoking) will mask the social gaffe. The humor targets early 20th-century anxieties about social class and etiquette. Tipping correctly was a sign of gentility; getting it wrong invited scorn from service workers. The cartoon satirizes how people use consumer products (cigarettes) as performative props to project confidence and sophistication when embarrassed—a common theme in period advertising culture that Life magazine frequently mocked. The joke relies on readers understanding that no cigarette actually solves social awkwardness, only *performs* composure.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
EMBARRASSING MOMENTS a penny for a dime and get a scornful look from the hat check boy... be nonchalant .. . light a MURAD Cigarette. When you mistake © P. Lorillard Tet, 160, lam YRIst SYRACUSE, N.Y. VERY metropolitan service is provided in this new and modern 600 room hotel. All outside rooms—with vath. Rates Cities from 3.00 up. Sample rooms 4.00 up. Excellent Dining Rooms SOSESS Two Good Hotels HOTEL ROCHESTER, N.Y., Recently modernized and refurnished, Large rooms —new baths —lamps on beds. In heart of banking and business ar. Noted for its hospitality and good food. 300 rooms from 2.25 Up. Both under the direction of ROY P. BRAINARD REVIVED A Scot spent a week-end in London and wished to see one of the most famous expensive restau- rants in town, without, however, paying a bill. He walked into the restaurant, ordered a glass of water, had a good look round, and then pre- pared to leave. The manager, who had been watching him suspiciously, came up and said: “Look here, you come in here, order a glass of water, and then calmly walk out.” “Well,"* said the Scot, “you could hardly ex- pect me to stagger out after a glass of water.’* —Tatler (London). A THOUGHT FOR TOMORROW A sixcte atom, properly harnessed, will do all the world’s work sometime, a scientist tells us. If we were such a rip-tearing atom as that, we wouldn't work unless we wanted to. —Kansas City Star. Joun D. Rocxerener recently gave a children’s party. A good dime was had by all. —New York Sun. ONE ROSE LEAF Deticate and cool upon the dust Of traveled streets it lay, Like a pink shell left on the sand Where late the tide held sway, A fragile thing and eloquent! Not of forlorn, enchanted seas, But of a far, wind-haunted garden, Bright with bees. —Chicago Daily News, GENTLEMAN GENE “If I wasn't a lady I'd like to sock Tunney op his ear."—Letter to Liberty Magazine. Iv seems to us that the ideal kind of person to be, when socking Tunney on the car, is a lady, —New Yorker, Campatcy literature is fiction the plot of which is disclosed by the opposing party. —Arkansas Gazette. Nor do they starve Look about in any circle. Note how slen derness_prevails. People gain fat, just as always, but they don’t stay fat. They correct the abnormal condition. Some years ago science discovered a cause of excess fat. Itlies in an under-active gland which largely controls nutrition. After thov sands of experiments on animals, a way was found to combat that deficiency. Physicians the world over now employ it in obesity. That method is embo fied in Marmols rescription tablets. People have used them lor 20 years—millions of boxes of them. Year by year the use has grown as users told others the results. Now people see them wherever they look. Slender figures which once were fat. Active people who once were sluggish. Be wise enough to follow their example. One simply takes four tablets daily untl weight comes down to normal. No abnormal eseacise or dietis required, though modersie elps. The method is not secret. The Marmola formula appears in every box, also the scien tific reasons for all good effects. You know what you are taking, and why. Gotry the method which has done so much. Marmola could not hold its high place for 2 years without doing what ou want done. doing that in a right and helpful way. Follow the example of the folks you envy. Start today. Megas eons ina tablets are Joana by al ‘at $1 per box. An: ist ie Sut will Seder roc hs jobber. MARMOLA Dr ‘ion Jablet. he Bloasant Way to Reduce comicbooks.com Te wr