Life, 1929-02-22 · page 28 of 36
Life — February 22, 1929 — page 28: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page collects brief satirical jokes and observations from *Life* magazine and other contemporary sources, reflecting 1920s-30s social attitudes. **Key themes:** - **Show business**: A music student is told her voice would only be useful "in case of shipwreck"—mocking her lack of talent. A Hollywood joke references "Talkies" (early sound films) and actors with heavy colds ruining dialogue. - **Courtship/Marriage**: A young man stammers proposing after five years dating; the father cuts him off asking if he wants a "pension." Another joke: a daughter says an unwanted suitor is "completely" gone. - **Modern life complaints**: Installment payments on cars, RSVP etiquette confusion, divorce proceedings. - **Workplace humor**: A newspaper linotyper accidentally writes "change of Venus" instead of "change of venue" in a divorce story. The satire targets social pretension, romantic confusion, economic anxiety, and the confusion caused by new technologies (Talkies, wireless radio). These are gentle, observational jokes rather than biting political commentary.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Musica Aspirant: Professor, do you think I'll ever be able to do anything with my voice? Tue Expert: Well, it might come ig handy in case of shipwreck.—Answers, “Oh, sir,” stammered a young ma from Anthony recently to the father of a girl of the town. “I—er. That is, I—er I would like to—. I mean I have~. Wel, I've been going with your daughter fo, five years now.” “Yes,” cut in the old parent, cross at having his reading interrupted. “Wel, what do you want—a pension?” —Wichita Eagle. He who marries in haste has no leisure—Everybody's Weekly. Wire or Prouiric AuTHor: Here’: review of your latest, dear. Prouric AUTHOR: Yes. The fellow says it’s the second time I've written it. Now I come to think of it, I believe he's right. —Punch (by permission). “Do we want to live long?” asks a scientist. Honest people do, of course, for the sake of keeping up the instalments on the car—London Calling. Soctat Novice: What do you do when you get something ending with “R. S. V. PL"? Wirevess Entuvstast: Don’t let them fool you. There isn’t any such station. —Pearson's. Many film stars at Hollywood are suf- fering from heavy colds. I understand that a Talkie was ruined by one charac- ter saying “Cabe the dawb!” —Passing Show. FATHER (voice from upstairs): Isn't that young man gone yet? Daucnter: Yes, father, completely. —Everybody's Weekly. “T’ll tell you what, Muriel, I'll have six whacks at mine, then you have six whacks at yours.” —Londow Calling. It is Madeline Cameron’s contribs tion, and deals with the linotyper ona newspaper who made an appropriate error while setting a story about a man wi was seeking a divorce. The line read “And the plaintiff asked the court for? change of Venus.” . —New York Evening Graphic. Houtxwoop Moro: The first hundred yeahs are the hardest. 4 —New York Graphic. Overheard from a steamer chair: Lavy (rather enthusiastically): 1 het Adolphe Menjou is among the passenge GentLeMaN (rather bored): Y What am I supposed to do—run a t perature?—O. O. Melntyre in the Ne York American. comicbooks.com