Life, 1928-07-19 · page 7 of 40
Life — July 19, 1928 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The main cartoon depicts children playing "Outraged Wife Breaks Up Love Nest"—mocking a scandal involving Will Rogers, the famous cowboy entertainer and humorist. The dialogue below, titled "The Old Guard Considers the Rogers Menace," features politicians (Hoover, Curtis, Mellon, and others) discussing Rogers as a presidential threat. They're concerned he lacks proper credentials—no vice-president, no senatorial background, no oil connections. The satire targets the political establishment's anxiety about Rogers' popularity and outsider status, contrasting his genuine public appeal against their formal qualifications. The secondary item "Ain't Nature Grand?" satirizes Ontario's growing automobile culture and its associated drinking establishments, listing various venues where cars and alcohol intersect.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“Gracious! Whet’s all this racket? iad “We're playing Outraged Wife Breaks Up Love Nest.” The Old Guard Considers the Rogers Menace Hoover: Well, boys, I called this little conference to discuss this Will Rogers menace. 5 Cvurris: That’s no clown act he’s pull- ing now. Metton: Don’t take this thing seri- ously, gentlemen. Why, he hasn't even a vice-president running along with him. Dawes: Helen Maria! Neither have we now. Hoover: Harmony, boys, harmony. Now what can we get on this fellow Rogers anyway? Butter: Where’s he from? Hays: Oklahoma. Butter: Well, can’t we get him mixed up in some sort of oil scandal out there? Hays: Shh! Senator! Shh! Easy on that oil stuff. Remember—I'm still forgetting. Curtis: Well, now, when Will Rogers went over to Europe last year—— Hoover: Lay off that European stuff, Charley. Remember, I have spent a little time over there myself. Metron: Gentlemen, I fear you are unduly disturbed by Candidate Rogers. Was he not repudiated as Mayor by his home-folks out in Beverly Hills? Hays: Yeh—and the next day he was president of the Ex-Mayors’ Association of America, which gives him a perfect organization in every town in America. Me ton: Oh, well, let us then dismiss his candidacy as ridiculous by reminding Tue Tramp: Yes, lady, I’m just a poor little lost lamb, the folks that he is nothing but an ordi- nary moving picture actor. Hays: Hell! Don’t remind the folks of that! They've been trying to get a Presi- dent who's had movie training ever since Cal was screened in his cowboy suit. Hilton Butler. Ain’t Nature Grand? Aw Ontario paper says one million cars cross the Detroit River annually, and “the number will continue to increase as our neighbors become acquainted with our excellent highways and other attrac- tions.” The paper does not go into detail, but a friend who has traveled in Ontario tells me that among these “other attractions” are the following: Hills, streams, and woodland scenery near drinking places. Bathing beaches near drinking places. Golf courses near drinking places. Quaint old houses near drinking places. Buildings that contain drinking places. Proprietors of drinking places. Bartenders at drinking places. Bottles, taps and glasses at drinking places. Drinking places. Drink. Elmer C. Adams. comicbooks.com