Life, 1929-01-18 · page 18 of 44
Life — January 18, 1929 — page 18: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page from *Life* magazine presents satirical news briefs and cartoons mocking contemporary 1920s American events. **The cartoons:** - Bottom left: A child's first speech occurs while his father has a "busted fender," satirizing how parents use accidents as teaching moments. - Center: A gardener successfully deceives a wealthy homeowner ("Prowler: I believe I've fooled him—he thinks I'm the gardener"), poking fun at class distinctions and the difficulty distinguishing servants from intruders. **The news items** mock: - Women's temperance activism (requesting silent prayer for Prohibition) - Political spending proposals during the Coolidge era - A professor's suggestion to replace traditional religion with a "Democratic party"—satirizing secular progressivism The overall tone mocks 1920s American social pretensions, class anxieties, and political reformism.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Headlines of the Week COOLIDGE MISSES POT SHOT AT DEER — PHILADELPHIA MACHINE GUNNERS BAG TWO NONCOM- BATANTS IN STREET DUEL— SENATOR LOWDEN ADVISES FARMERS TO WAIT FOR HOOVER —ANTI-WAR TREATY GIVEN FIRST PLACE BEFORE CONGRESS —GOVERNMENT ALLOWS MEDI- COS MORE WHISKEY TO FIGHT FLU—HEARST OFFERS $25,000 FOR DRY REPEAL PLAN—G, O. P. GAVE SIX MILLION TO HELP HOOVER— 32,000 MEN ANSWER WANT AD AT FORD PLANT—DETROIT POLICE- MEN BAGS PEDESTRIAN BY MIS- TAK E—MISSISSIPPEL NEGRO BURNED BY MOB. The motorist’s son makes his first speech under the incentive of a busted fender. NEW YORK CITY — The national Women’s Christian Temperance Union requested that January 16 be regarded as Victory day for the drys, and all church bells sounded for nine minutes. And all speakeasies hold a minute of silent thanks. NEW YORK—What college girls laugh at has been investigated by a young gradu. ate student in psychology at Columbia University named Polyxenie Kambouro. poulou who succeeeded in getting 10) Vassar students to keep diaries of their laughs each day. The diaries proved that college girls do not giggle over nothing, as is Popularly supposed, since out of 4,000 laughs there were only fifty-four for no humorous rea. son. They can always laugh at each other, NEW YORK — Records released by Prohibition Investigation Committees state that only 17 out of 504 Speakeasies serve real stuff. Well, where are these here now 17 Speakeasies? Prowrer: I believe I've fooled him—he thinks I'm the gardener. NEW YORK—John J. Fox & Sons, undertakers, who claim to have been the first to utilize the automobile for trans- porting the dead, announced they had arranged with Barrett Airways to supply airplanes on short notice capable of carrying a coffin and an undertaker’s j assistant. We're going to refuse to be buried from an airplane. It’s not safe. WASHINGTON, D. C.—If the farm relief and naval cruiser bills are passed the total government expense inherited by President-elect Hoover will be $4,000,000,- 000, or almost $300,000,000 more than Mr. Coolidge thought advisable. Which should make it just about right. NEW YORK CITY—Professor Byrnes, before the American Association for the Advancement of Science, declared that we should cease talking of God and create a new religion, and something to take the place of the old Heaven and Hell. Pe- sonally, we'd rather have a new Demo cratic party. WASHINGTON, D. C.—Congressmen voiced various opinions on W. C Durant’s proposal for a Congressional in- vestigation of Dry enforcement. Senator Caraway, of Arkansas, said he was in sympathy with it. “Some one is blocking enforcement,” he said, “and I am curious to know who or what it is.” Now, whe could that fellow be? comicbooks.com