Life, 1928-12-07 · page 31 of 64
Life — December 7, 1928 — page 31: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page from the satirical magazine *Life* contains three distinct humor features: **"The Postman Reads"** (top cartoon): A cheerful postman delivers Christmas greetings at an elegant estate gate. The accompanying verse is sentimental holiday doggerel—typical of the greeting-card sentimentality Life often mocked through juxtaposition with absurd or cynical imagery. **"Our Own Puzzle Department"** (middle): Word-play riddles using "decapitation" (removing the first letter). These are traditional parlor games for readers—lighthearted, not political. **"Research" and "Boob Spelled Backwards"** (bottom): Two brief satirical observations. The first uses a professor studying an amoeba to mock pretentious academia (with a Martian observer providing ironic perspective). The second ironically suggests "common sense" and "imagination" are opposite poles of stupidity—likely critiquing both rigid rationalists and frivolous dreamers in contemporary society. The page is primarily entertainment-focused rather than topical political satire, reflecting *Life*'s mix of wordplay, gentle social commentary, and visual humor.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Our Own Puzzle Department DEcaPITAaTIONS No. 1. Berean the back of your neck and get your ancestor. No. 2. Behead a guide and get some- thing that’s good for the calves. No. 3. Behead a chicken and get an entirely different kind of bird. No. 4. Behead a rough instrument and get Cleopatra’s finish. No. 5. Behead what a miner sweats through and get what he sweats for. No. 6. Behead a kind of party and get Tue Postman Reaps— “A Merry Christmas to you’ A joyful message rings. A little bird has brought it— Perhaps you heard his wings.” the day that a Scotchman stays at home. No. 7. Behead what you throw down and get what creeps upon you. No. 8. Behead a footpad and get some- thing else that goes in the dark. jo. g. Behead a cleaning implement and get the place where you use it. No. 10. Behead a tool for digging and get a poor place to live. No. 11. Behead the covering of your body and get a bunch of relations. No. 12. Behead an easy job and get a sleep. (See page 71 for answers) RESEARCH “A Most curious organism!" exclaimed the professor, gazing through a micro- scope at an amoeba. “What a very odd specimen!” ex- claimed the inhabitant of Mars, gazing through a telescope at the professor. BOOB SPELLED BACKWARDS Too frequently what we call common sense is merely lack of imagination. Too frequently what we call imagination is merely lack of common sense. —— Page 45 comicbooks.com