Life, 1928-11-23 · page 14 of 36
Life — November 23, 1928 — page 14: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page from *Life* magazine contains Mrs. Pep's Diary by Baird Leonard, a humor column about domestic life. The main cartoon depicts a woman introducing a man to others with the caption: "Honestly, he's a perfect social silhouette—no background at all!" The joke satirizes social climbing and superficiality in the 1920s-30s era. "Social silhouette" suggests the man presents an impressive *appearance* or outline in society, but has no actual substance, wealth, or noteworthy background. The humor mocks both the man's lack of credentials and the woman's willingness to present him favorably despite this emptiness—reflecting period anxieties about social pretense and the visibility of class distinctions in fashionable circles. The diary entries humorously document Mrs. Pep's mundane domestic frustrations.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
, old lady in “Turn to the Right” did with MRS. PEP S DIARY j her preserve for I can viel! ioadgine Vis- n, oy y |jcount Allenby or Charles M. Schwab, tasting them during the course of a jluncheon in their honor, stopping all | meditation on their speeches to inquire, “Whence comes this delicious relish?” ; Afterwards reading in the journals jabout the making off of the Zeppelin and Ocroser 30—Up so betimes the opening of the opera, very complacent that I was obliged to go to the kitchen myself and as- semble something to cat, a business at which I am_no- toriously maladroit, but I did put some left-over rice and mushrooms in a double boiler and brew a pot of tea,and then, there being nobody awake to gainsay me, I did put on my tray a jar of the pickles lately come from Anne Estill, the best [ have eaten since the days of my youth, having just enough sugar in the raustard sauce. Lord! should Anne put them on_ the market she could make her fortune, as the Leonard in my new apricot satin negligee lined with albatross and trimmed all about with lovely flat white fur, but when Sam, emerging scandalously late, saw me, he burst’ into great guffaws, exclaiming, “You look like a character in ‘Boris Godunoff'!" and bringing me to realize that so far this season I have laid out one hundred and ninety-five dollars in vain, two of the hats which T purchased with such enthusiasm having turned out to be what the baseball players call morning- glories. This day I did read a book so diverting that my husband, poor wretch, c “Honestly, he’s a perfect social silhouette—no background at all!” Rereree: Say—you fellows gotta quit run ning down the sidelines like this. Star: Aw—forget it—you never see | photographers on the field, do yo who does loathe being read to, not only bore with quoted passages but pled for more, so I do commend “Angel Child,” by Grace Perkins. Ocroser 31—Off early to gymnasium, where I did do my exercises and play at handballe, descending afterwards to the Grand Central Station, which has become a new and hitherto unexplored playground for me. Lord! I did never dream that so many fascinating articles could be pro cured under one roof and without cross ing any streets, and I do believe all my Christmas shopping can be donc there, without fear, Eee or scandal. The men at the oyster bar are now numbered amongst my most pleasant acquaintances, and the minute they do sce me approach- ing, one of them starts to mix a clam juice cocktayle. Moreover, as I emerge I do pass a shop which sells fresh buttered popcorn, and there is always a cab await- ing me at the Lexington Avenue exit, so that, for the moment at least, conditions are as near heavenly as I have yet found them on earth. Home betimes, finding Sam there so agog over the beaut- ful weather that we did decide to drive out to Henri’s at Lynbrook for dinner, making an unexcelled meal off onion soup, lobster and mushrooms cooked in white wine, potatoes bataille and a fine chiffonade salad in which we admon- ished them to put some crisp sweet onions. So home through the autumn moonlight and, after reading a bit in Frank Swin- nerton’s new book, to bed. a es THE SILENT PARTNER Ste: Of course, it’s always the woman who pays. . He: Maybe so, but who is it that gives her the money to pay with? comicbooks.com