Life, 1928-11-16 · page 39 of 44
Life — November 16, 1928 — page 39: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This cartoon satirizes a common type encountered in Prohibition-era speakeasies: the perpetually frustrated wannabe writer. Through four numbered scenes, different men (all appearing to be the same archetype, named "Umberto" as the bartender) repeatedly claim they're wasting their talents in mundane jobs—advertising, insurance, wallpaper sales—when they could be writing if only circumstances permitted. The joke targets self-deluding men who blame external circumstances for unfulfilled ambitions rather than acknowledging their own lack of follow-through. Each monologue becomes progressively drunker and more contradictory (one admits waking up comfortable, another claims twenty years of postponement). The title "World Miscast" suggests these men are suited for literary greatness but trapped in ordinary work—yet the humor implies they're simply making excuses over drinks they can't afford to buy. The satire gently mocks both male vanity and the speakeasy culture of 1920s America.
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The World Miscast Inevitable Conclusions After Spending Any Evening in Any Speakeasy I “Now take me, f'r instance—no, no, these are on me—I'm doing the wrong thing. T ought to be writing. Yeah, sure—I used to write automobile ure copy that knocked le stiff! 1 could make a swell living at hetion if I could only get started. And what am I doing? Wasting my best years selling space for a bum magazine. Say, I've got more ideas for knockout plots... honest, you wouldn’t believe me....” II “Y'know, it makes me sick that I can’t do the one thing I want to do. Naw, this life insurance isn't my real game at all. I'll never be happy until I get down to writing—hey, Umberto, two more old- fashioneds, quick! Honestly, I wake up more times in the middle of the night, fairly itching for a pad and pencil... .no, I don’t, because it'd leave me feeling like an old umbrella all next day. Got to have my nine hours, but it’s hell, all right, not being able to do the one thing you ought to be doing...” III “No, no, these are on me—here, Um- berto, don’t you take a dime from this gen'l'man! Well—what were we talking about? oh, yes—when you consider all the trash that’s printed today it gives me a pain not to be able to chuck over this ad- vertising racket and go to it myself. What's that? You bet your life I can do it! I can write, brother—hey, Jeff, weave over here an’ tell this pen'l'man whether or not I can write! Sure, anyone'll tell you... .just ask ‘em, tha’s all... .” IV “Lissen here, mister—wha’s that name again? Oh, yeh, tha’s ri’. Well, lissen here, an’ mark m’ words: one of these days thish damn wholesale wallpaper busi- ness is goin’ t' miss me, mister, Tha’s ri’, Umberto, an’ the change is yours — as usual. Here’s lookin’ at you, mister, an’ as I was sayin’, wallpaper’s loss is goin’ U be lit'rature’s gain. Why, sure I can write....been wantin’ to get at it for twenny years, mister—wha’s that name again?....Oh, yeh, well, lissen here a “ Stanley Jones. y Sureer Music SAY “CENTURY” and get the world’s Best Edition of the world’s Best Music by the world’s Best Composers. It’s 15¢ (20¢ in Canada) 2500 selections for Pi- ano, Piano Duos, Violin and Piano, Sax- ophone, Mandolin, Guitar and Vocal. Get free catalogue at your dealers, or write us. Contery Music Publishing Co. 240 West New ven cig” 15¢ LIFE You see it’s really easy ! WHEN it comes to gifts for men, the annual despair of the Christmas shopper is tradi- tional. We admit that. But we deny the neces- sity for any such mental turmoil. Especially this year! Have you noticed the style trend in men’s shining raiment of late? Unmistakably, there are more starched collars being worn than for several years past. For business they’re the thing. And starched collars mean French cuffs «and French cuffs mean cuff buttons, and there you are! Kum-a-parts! The most practical cuff but- tons made—and one of the few bits of chaste adornment well-dressed men will permit them- selves to wear. Snip—and they’re open. Snap —and they’re closed. Holding even the soft- est cuffs smartly in place. Made of fine materi- als, and guaranteed for a lifetime. Priced to suit any purse, up to $25. At jewelers’ or men’s shops. Baer & Wilde Co., Attleboro, Mass, ‘Kuom-a-part 6 Caff Buttons Another gift suggestion for civilised men—The new Carlton automatic cigarette lighter, thinnest and most graceful of them all—“Snap the lever—there’s your light.” One of the Kum-a-part products. comicbooks.com