Life, 1928-07-26 · page 11 of 36
Life — July 26, 1928 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This cartoon depicts well-dressed businessmen—identified as "The Tollers" (a pun on "toilers," working men)—carrying briefcases and wearing identical straw hats. The illustration satirizes traveling salesmen or commercial agents of the era, particularly those selling clothing or merchandise. The accompanying "Sales Talks" section mocks their pitch techniques, with a salesman explaining high-pressure sales tactics about garment quality and fit. The humor lies in portraying these working-class salesmen as uniform, interchangeable figures, despite their self-importance about selling "classy" goods. The cartoon ridicules both the salesmen's pretensions and the consumer culture they represent—suggesting these workers are merely cogs in a commercialized system, defined entirely by their profession rather than individual identity.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
hic is a piccolo player when no- or is Tooking That you never hear of the Muriel Cigar any more since Alexander Woollcott indorsed it. ..That Charles Francis Coe, the author of ‘“Me—Gangster,” was once the Navy's heavyweight champion under a different name That the Chiteau Madrid, an open-air night club, has opened on 54th Street That Ex- Senator Newberry of Michigan has a brother in the chorus of a Broadway flop. _...That Broadwayfarers have replaced “That's my girl” or “That's my steady” with “That’s my heart”....and that Heywood Broun, the writer who once was an actor, wants to go back on the stage again. He probably misses the smell of bad notices. Walter Winchell. Little Rambles with Serious Thinkers Dio you ever ask what you know about aman? You could not tell the color of his eyes or hair, nor what kind of clothes he wears, but you would know him if you saw him turning the corner two blocks away. It is the indefinable “Ir” about him that you recognize. —Dr. Frank Crane. Men have “Ir” more often than women. —Madame Elinor Glyn. Faith is the unimpaired meat of God in the nutshell of expectancy—The Very Rev. Philips S. Gilman, Dean of St. Luke's Protestant Episcopal Cathedral of Orlando, Fla, Gorillas never kill their wives. —Arthur Brisbane, Illness is a cause for genuine worry— especially if it is chronic. —Louis E. Bisch, M.D., Ph.D. Great responsibilities come only to those who can bear them. Upon America has been laid the weight of the world’s assay. She has made good every measure and returned in full every just claim, She has raised, often, the sword. But just as often has she hopefully sheathed it. May vic- tory always be hers. May the vanquished be worthy of such a victor. —Harry Hershfield. Precious stones have no lure for those who cannot appreciate them. —Bernarr Macfadden,. Nothing is so clear as that America is just a big boy— Will Durant. The Toilers Sales Talks “Just step over here to the glass sir there you are sir there’s a real classy garment a real piece of merchandise oh yes yes we'll fix them sleeves that ain't nothing at all just look at the way that coat drapes on the shoulders and through here it’s a real garment sir a real garment I could sell you any of those other suits but this is the suit I want to sell you be- cause it's new it’s what the classy young fellows is all wearing if I sell you that suit I know you'll come back to me and say Mr. Beckster pick me out another suit that last one was a wow why say I got fellows in this town won't have any other salesman on the floor go near ’em except me yes sir lots of "em they depend on me to sell ‘em what's right class real class in that garment you won't see many on the street like that we only had one in a size in that pattern it’s real novel and it fits you like the varnish fits the table there’s a broker on Wall Street one of the biggest operators in town wearing a suit exactly like that yes sir the very same suit only a forty-six instead of a thirty- eight I know because I sold it to him just step into the dressing-room there and see how the vest and pants are for fit.” W. Boyce Morgan. DIVERSION Vickers: I’m surprised to hear he's been making love to other women—his wife simply dotes on him. Wickers: I guess maybe he wants an antidote. this Al Smith to Washington: ¢ Original New York Cast. Or course there would be about sendin, it would be th comicbooks.com