Life, 1929-02-15 · page 26 of 44
Life — February 15, 1929 — page 26: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two distinct pieces of satire from *Life* magazine (circa 1903). **Top section:** "The Lass That Loved an Aviator" is an illustration satirizing early aviation romance—a fashionable subject of the era. The image shows a woman and man in a giant flower-shaped hot air balloon or aircraft, poking fun at the novelty and absurdity of early flight technology and the romantic fantasies surrounding aviators. **Bottom section:** "How The Village Bell Went Rung" is a comedy sketch brutally mocking Edgar Allan Poe's writing. The editors claim this is an "excerpt" from Poe's works, but it's actually an invented parody stuffed with terrible bell-related puns ("bell-ong," "bell-ieve," "ting-a-ling"). The joke is that this nonsense is so bad, Poe's actual publisher must have missed it—and the piece satirizes both Poe's reputation and pretentious literary obscurity. The final cartoon mocks the new automobile technology: a man complaining that his carriage built for twins now requires an extra "rumble seat" for overflow.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Tue Lass THat Loven an Aviator. How The Village Bell Went Rung Or Ring Out, Wild Puns! (A Betoprama) The following, originally “Annabell,” is an excerpt from thé writings of Edgar Helen Poe, a young man of doubtful sex, and is so classified because no one would ever read it before excerpt him. Indeed, so obscure has it remained up to now, that certain authorities label it “personal diary,” but that just shows that they are all confused, as that is what he died of, not what he wrote. At any rate, a volume of Poetry (works of Poe) has recently been published by Doubleday-Bed and Company, New York, and what will be their chagrin to find that they missed out on this splendid passage. They will probably wear a chagrin a mile wide...On second examination, this pas- sage is not any good after all, being for the year 1903 (Liverpool to Boston) ang steerage at that... ArcuMENT: Go ahead and start one, Scene: Interior of an old English (parlor of a belfry). et pal Time: Standard. Cutaracters: Annabell, the Village Bel, Her Lover. Her Ma and Pa. ANNABELL (accusingly): You know yoy bell-ong to somebody else! “ Lover (nervously): That's a lot o belloney. Annasett: I cannot bell-ieve you. Your actions bell-ie your words. Ma anv Pa (firmly, to Lover): You should have gave her a ring! Awnaset (pleadingly): Ah, toll me yor love me! My nerves are ting-a-ling with despair! Lover (decisively): Farewell! I'm gong to leave you now! Ma anv Pa (sternly): Dong be goog long! Annasett: Ah, hear my ap-peal! Lover (6ellicosely): Stop clanging me, woman! Annasett: But I curfew in a big w. Lover: Look out bell-ow! (Jumps.) Annapett (desperately): He has rang away! He has runged my maidenhood! (Passionately.) Ah, bell-oved! Bell-oved! May the little angelus protect him! (Sob bing into tiny white garment.) He dig know! Ma ano Pa (6elligerently): He aist done right by our Knell! Aut Sine: In the good old Summe- CHIME!...In the good old Summ CHIME! (Curtain, VERY QUICK) Marian Deitrick. “T never thought when I bought a carriage for twins, that I would ever have to add a rumble seat.” comicbooks.com