Life, 1929-06-07 · page 40 of 48
Life — June 7, 1929 — page 40: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This humorous story satirizes the absurdity of inefficient service stretched to comic extremes. A waiter takes so long to prepare breakfast that his son must travel to Java (Indonesia) to retrieve coffee beans, returning as an adult. When service is finally completed, the original customer has died and his son receives the meal instead. The joke mocks both the waiter's incompetence and—implicitly—complaints about slow restaurant service common in the era. The punchline hinges on the passage of generations, making literal the customer's exasperation. The page also contains advertisements for Santa Fe Railway tours and Planters Peanuts (featuring Mr. Peanut), reflecting 1920s-30s commercial culture. A cartoon about a motorist bribing a traffic cop with a whistle appears below, suggesting police corruption was a recognized social issue worthy of satirical treatment.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
After California —Hawait mail this coupon * ated inte ittnted W. J, Black, Pass, Traf. Mgr., Santa Fe Syetem Lines, jway Exchange, Chicago, ih. Please mail picture-folders ebecked below: Book C) The Indian-detour Escorted all-expense Tours Siatveyear Motar Craicsd O Grand Canyon Outings of flour under the other. He killed Life The Speedy Waiter (Continued from Page 13) the hog and cut four slices of bacon. Bread was made from the flour. When the bacon was fried and the | toast burned, it was placed in the ice | box to cool while the waiter sat down to await the return of his eldest son | with the coffee. | One day roller skates were heard in the alley outside. Could it be? Yes, it was. The son, brown as a nut from his trip through Java, dashed in with a pound of coffee. Swifdy, ever so swiftly now, the waiter moved about the kitchen. The coffee pot was placed under the gut- terspout in the alley. Came the sum- mer rains, and the pot was filled. A fire was kindled in the stove. Coffee was made. “Take my coat,” cried the excited waiter to his son. “Serve the man his breakfast. Hurry, please.” The waiter’s son dashed through the swinging doors into the dining room. At the far end sat a portly | gent from Portland. | “I believe,” said the waiter’s son, placing the dishes on the table, “you ordered bacon, buttered toast’ and cof- fee from my father?” “No,” said the portly gent, “but I've heard that my dear old father did.” In old Virginia! ‘“Dar's whar de cotton, cawn and Planters Peanuts grow.’’ And as everyone knows, Virginia's sunny fields produce the biggest, plumpest, tastiest peanuts in the world. The finest are saved for Planters—fresh-roasted, salted. “The Nickel Lunch.” 5 cents everywhere. Sold only in the glassine bag with MR. PEANUT on it. Buy a bag every day. PLANTERS Nut & CHOCOLATE COMPANY U.S. A. and Canada PLANTERS SALTED PEANUTS ANOTHER SCOTCH STORY! watch for next week's cover on Life Some motorist presented the cop with a new whistle which softened his disposition, = aur Ak. The Hadison lotel and Restaurant Suites Now Leasing Inmediate Occupancy MADISON AVENUE comicbooks.com