Life, 1929-01-11 · page 12 of 36
Life — January 11, 1929 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains several brief humorous items typical of early 20th-century Life magazine. The main cartoon shows a well-dressed man in a top hat speaking to a shabby beggar, with the caption: "Give you nothing, you bum, you'd just spend it for likker." The humor targets hypocrisy—the wealthy man's moral judgment of the poor while implying alcoholism was their vice. The "Silly Willy" poem mocks parental permissiveness, suggesting that indulgent parents who spare the rod create incompetent adults (the drowning reference). "Instruction" satirizes educated women becoming insufferable pedants after learning. "Captious" features a Chicago gangster's concern about appropriate banquet attire—dark satire about violent criminals adopting social pretense. The remaining items are brief anecdotes mocking teachers, Christmas materialism, and workplace accidents.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
SILLY WILLY Witur’s pa and ma were kind So he never learned to mind. Since he never took the whim Willie never learned to swim. Once, when Willie’s yacht went down Damned if Willie didn’t drown. R.L.B. INSTRUCTION Trovcn uneducated, she was intelligent and I adored her. So I sought to teach her with tomes of | learning. |She absorbed their matter readily and be- | came, in time, a worthy scholar. ; Now she wants to tell me the truth about things. T cannot stand her. A ScotcHMan once made a talking movie and dropped all his aiches because he wasn’t paid for them. Tuen there was the girl who made 1 good match. All her relatives beat a path to her door. CAPTIOUS Cuicaco Gunman (to valet): “Which gun shall I wear to the banquet tonight, Hawkins?” EA “Give you nothing, you bum, you'd just spend it for likker.” | Teacher: Who was Benjamin Frank- | How wonderful! So you've got the| First Workman: What floor did you fall lin? fascinating modern furniture now. from? Wise Puri: He was the man that in-| No, Uncle Bill gave little Johnny a chest “Th’ thirteenth.” vented the Saturday Evening Post. of tools for Christmas! “Tek! Tek!” comicbooks.com