Life, 1929-01-18 · page 30 of 44
Life — January 18, 1929 — page 30: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page collects brief humorous anecdotes and jokes typical of 1920s-30s satirical magazines. The humor reflects period anxieties and social observations: **Key Jokes:** 1. **"Immaculate"** - Elder sister defines it by working-class reference (gravy stains), poking fun at pretentious vocabulary. 2. **Baby payment timing** - Satire on consumer debt: parents can only afford a baby between installment payments on luxury goods (radios, automobiles), mocking 1920s consumer culture. 3. **Nursing bottle instruction** - Absurdist humor about poorly-written product instructions that make the baby sound like an object to be "unscrewed." 4. **Insurance/car/marriage jokes** - Domestic humor about wives' priorities (car aesthetics over specs; closet space over luxury apartments). The page exemplifies how early-20th-century satire targeted consumerism, marital dynamics, and linguistic pretension among the middle class. All jokes assume contemporary reader familiarity with installment buying, radio ownership, and gender role expectations.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Boy (reading aloud): “‘John appeared in immaculate evening-dress.’ What does ‘im- maculate’ mean?” Exper Sister. “No gravy-stains on it.” —Punch (By permission). Wat: When was your new baby born? Knorr: Between the second payment on the radio and the eighth on the auto. —The Pathfinder. Borttes, a trade paper, calls attention to a nursing bottle advertisement which concludes with these instructions: “When the baby 1s done drinking, it} should be unscrewed and laid in a cool place under a tap. If the baby does not thrive on fresh milk, it should be boiled.” —Vancouver Province. Drawn by W. H. Codd, | ENTERPRISING Insurance Acent: “Might I |offer you particulars of our Insurance Scheme, Sir?” —Passing Show. ‘This car has eight cylinders, four-wheel brakes, water-cooled _——” “That does not interest me. My wife wants a pearl grey car with a nice vase for flowers and fitted with wireless.” —Buen Humor (Madrid). Smaut Boy (at home-work): “Dad, do do this sum for me.” Fatner: “No, my boy; it wouldn’t be right.” SMALt Boy: “P’raps not, Dad; but you might have a try.” —Punch (By permission). Jerry: How is married life? Do you agree on anything? Bit: No, I'll say we don’t, but don't tell her.—Boston Globe. Arter a Detroit husband read the item the other night about a coal magnate rent- ing a 45-room apartment in New York, his wife said, “Does it say anything about closets? —Detroit News. comicbooks.com " hava