Life, 1929-06-07 · page 29 of 48
Life — June 7, 1929 — page 29: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page from *Life* magazine contains three satirical pieces about 1920s social life: **"The Futuristic Barber Shop"** (top left): A simple architectural joke about modernist design in New York's Central Building. **"Do De Oh Deauville!"** mocks the European leisure lifestyle of wealthy Americans. It parodies Basil Woon's travel book by presenting an absurdly packed daily schedule of the French Riviera social circuit—essentially continuous drinking (multiple cocktails listed hourly) punctuated by gambling, racing, and minimal sleep. The satire ridicules both the excess and the pretension of "society" people who follow such exhausting routines. **"The Ladies, Bless 'em!"** jokes about a man accidentally taking a male friend to an all-female establishment (the Woman's Exchange), where he felt out of place and unnecessary. **"Endurance Contest"** proposes a humorous "dance marathon" prize for husbands staying away from home longest, satirizing both the contemporary dance marathon fad and marital discord—implying wives would be desperate to retrieve their husbands. The final caption references Wall Street operators, likely alluding to post-1920s financial speculation culture.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
New York Life 27 The Futuristic Barber Shop New York Central Building. The Ladies, Bless ‘em! Another friend of mine (well, he was one) took me out to lunch last week ... he said that he was going to show me a new place and without warning walked me into the Woman's Exchange! . . . Brothers, if you want to feel unnecessary just sit in the middle of six thousand females and eat date salad! Do De Oh Deauville! Basil Woon has written a book called “From Deauville to Monte Carlo” in which he follows a crowd of dirty stay-outs through all the famous “watering” places of Europe and incidentally makes us Man- hattan Rounders feel like a bunch of suburbanites . . . be- low is listed his daily schedule for Deauville... after you , have followed this religiously, or \ rather, irreligiously, for three weeks, the idea is to dash on to Le Touget for the same program, then to Biarritz, to Monte Carlo and on, on ad infinitum! 8:00 a.m. Canter down the sands. g:00a.M. First snifter—Ciro’s Bar. 10:00 4.M. Hot bath. 10:30 A. To noon. Sleep. 12:30Pp.mM. Cocktail—Beach Bar. 12:45 P.M. Cocktail—Beach Bar. 1:00 P.M. Cocktail—Beach Bar. 1:10 P, M. Dip in ocean. 1:15 P.M. 1:25 P.M. 1:35 P.M. 1:50 P.M. 2:45 P.M. 4:30 P.M. 5:00 P.M. 6:00 P. M. 6:15 P.M. 9:00 P. M. 9:30 P.M. 10:00 P. M. 11:30 P.M. 3:00 A.M. 3230 A.M. Cocktail—Beach Bar. Hotel—Dress for lunch. Cocktail at Ciro’s. Lunch at Normandy. Races. Cocktail at Cheri's. Polo. Tea. Cocktail at Luigi's. Baccarat rooms. Dress for dinner. Cocktail at Ciro’s. Dinner at Casino. Baccarat. Supper at deurs. Baccarat. Ambassa- Cocktail at Bar. Champagne carat Bar. Ham and eggs at Luigi's. Change to breeches. Canter down the sands. 3245.4. Baccarat 5:00 A. at Bac- 5230 A. 7:30 A.M. 8:00 a. Endurance Contest The Dance Marathon suggests a brand new contest in which I know most of our little readers would be interested . . . Let some big syndicate rent Madison Square Garden and give a prize to the husband who can stay away from home the longest... furnish hostesses for the hubbies to dance with ... place a strong wire fence around the dance floor... can’t you picture the irate wives with faces pressed against the partition beg- ging their better halves to come home, or vice versa... can’t you see litte tots with their arms stretched plead- ingly through the netting crying “Daddy, come home” and daddy yell- ing over his shoulder “Not yet, Child, I'm out to win the ten thousand dollar prize!” .. . But, no, I'm afraid the idea isn’t practical... Madison Square Garden wouldn't be big enough! But the wives might like the idea at that... they could do their dancing at Rudy Vallec’s em porium or any place they wished and they would know just’ where their hubbies were all the time. Money is much easier now! Big operators operating in Wall Street. comicbooks.com