Life, 1929-05-03 · page 12 of 44
Life — May 3, 1929 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes early aviation and gender roles in the 1910s-1920s. A woman pilot ("Milly") discusses her new plane with apparent pride, but the humor targets "lady drivers"—a contemporary stereotype of women as reckless or incompetent motorists, now transferred to aviation. The sketches show aerial mishaps: a plane crashing, another exploding mid-air, and debris falling. The final caption mocks "confirmed bachelors" who prefer planes to women because "you can get away from th' darn women." The satire works on two levels: mocking both women pilots as inherently dangerous AND suggesting aviation itself is absurdly unsafe. The tone combines skepticism about female aviators with general anxiety about this new, unpredictable technology.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
forgotten, so, of course, I turned right around and there was this perfect fool right behind me—and I’m going to sue his heirs for dam. ages, too! . . . Want to see this bus stunt? Watch, now—well for pity’s sake, where did he come from? ... Look at the clumsy way he opens his parachute! Honestly, men haven't the first idea of flying. . . . Oh, let’s hop over to Idaho and see Muriel’s new baby—let’s see, we go to the right for Idaho, don’t we? Or is it the left? Well, I'll try the right anyhow—no, I guess I'll try the left—MY LORD!—.. . Well, of all the idiots! Did you see that dirigible? We went right through it! And the driver hasn't any parachute, poor thing! Well, it serves him right—perhaps he'll know better next time— .. . Can you see the wreckage out that side? I guess I'll— . . . Oh there's a poor little bird—oh, I must dodge it oh my!— OOOOOOO! There! I was afraid I'd hit that plane—see him turn over and over— . Isn't it terrible the people they give licenses to? ... Well, we've got to be getting along—you'll just Jove Muriel’s baby—OOP! . . . Did I hit that one? ... The awful idiot! ... But isn’t it a divine day for flying?” Heman Fay, |r. “Thank heaven, this plane came along! Now 1 don't have to sit in the hot sun!” The Lady Driver Takes the Air “Isn't it just a perfect day for flying, Milly? . . . Don’t you love this new plane of mine? It’s really the last word—inspired by the engineering genius of Joshua P. Snoofler, you know «++ Oh look at the dress on that clothes line down there! I'll just dip down—I want to see how the collar’s made—OOP! Say, wouldn’t you think people would build their chimneys } lower? I hope it didn’t dent my new ms ‘ wy) & wings; this is the third set I've had to GS al get in a month. Why, last week I Ypy, ~~ ConrirMep BacHELor: On was flying along at less than 140 and : about a plane is, you can get I happened to think of something I'd Ze _ away from th’ darn women. Naka AQHA comicbooks.com