Life — December 7, 1928 — page 7: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis This is a multi-panel comic satirizing **St. Peter at the Pearly Gates**, a common religious trope. The joke concerns admission to heaven based on "hotness" rather than virtue. In panel 1, demonic creatures note "those people must be deaf." Panel 2 shows St. Peter and an angel (Gabe) summoning people to heaven, with Pete instructed to "get 'em somehow." The subsequent panels depict increasingly chaotic scenes where angels employ seductive dancing and gyrating movements ("Yo-ho do-do," "WAH," "shake it up") to lure souls upward. The satire mocks both religious afterlife concepts and the mid-20th century obsession with physical attractiveness and "hotness" as a social currency. The irreverent humor—using sexual appeal to populate heaven—parodies both conventional piety and contemporary celebrity culture.