Life, 1929-01-25 · page 21 of 36
Life — January 25, 1929 — page 21: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page collects humorous brief news items and cartoons satirizing 1920s American life. Key points: **The "Schoolgirl Complexion" soap cartoon** mocks beauty product advertising by showing a coal miner using the soap—the joke being the absurd contrast between the product's delicate, feminine branding and a grimy worker. **The news briefs** use ironic humor: - A husband doing housework is presented as so unusual that women would "wait" for him—mocking gender role expectations - A rag man fined for "crying out loud" selling wares will soon "endorse cigarettes"—suggesting he'll become a commercial spokesperson - A woman's stolen marriage license as throwaway punchline about divorce culture **The bottom cartoon** shows an angry housewife rejecting her husband's fish dinner, captioning "I don't think that fish ever WAS fresh!"—a domestic complaint joke. **The Reno reference** satirizes Nevada's lenient divorce laws and booming marriage license business as mercenary ("Easy come, easy go"). Overall, the page mocks commercialism, gender roles, divorce culture, and consumer product advertising typical of 1920s America.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
EVANSVILLE, IND.—Mrs. Katherine Xeturah testified in a divorce suit against Sharles Keturah that his peculiar ideas about their home life caused them to part. ‘According to the wife, her husband in- sisted upon doing the housework. There will be plenty of women waiting for this man. NEW YORK—The outlook for the brick industry in 1929 is favorable. There is every reason to expect a greater use of brick. Good news for the comic strips. The coal miner who got hold of a cake of “Schoolgirl Complexion” soap. BOSTON—Harry Gear, Roxbury rag- man, was fined $10 in Municipal Court rere for “crying out loud.” Witnesses testi- ned that although Gear had a license to cry his wares, he shouted so loud he upset the whole neighborhood. He'll soon be in- dorsing cigarettes. NEW American farmer at the opening of the new year is more favorable than it has been in any of the past five years, accord- | ing to a review of agricultural conditions | in the United States by the Henry Schroder Banking Corporation. Laugh the installment collector off with that. RENO, NEV.—Reno, long celebrated as a divorce center, now steps up as an American Gretna Green. Marriage licenses issued during 1928 totaled 3404, which was almost 2000 more than in 1927. Easy come, easy go. \ AT YOUR NEWS- STAND NEXT WEEK YORK—The outlook for the) © INDIANAPOLIS—A corset stay saved the life of Mrs. Edith Ayres when she was struck by a New Year reveler’s bullet. Lucky she was an old fashioned girl. CAMBRIDGE, MASS.—Miss Margaret MacDonald, 21, was greatly perturbed when somebody stole her handbag—not because it contained $36 in cash, but because it also contained her marriage license. Too bad. In a few years she could have sold it to the Smithsonian Institute. NEW YORK — Prof. William K. Gregory of the American Museum of Natural History, speaking before the Anthropological section of the American Association for the Advancement of Sci- ence at the American Museum today, gave a detailed statement of the indebted- ness of the human race, indicating that the fundamental elements of the human skull were contributed by a Devonian air- breathing fish of about 100,000,000 years ago, while we thank a lower carbonifer- ous amphibian for our shoulder blades, a primitive quadruped for our limbs and an insect-eating tree shrew for our hands and feet. And a camel for our throat. Ancry Housewire: And what's more, I don’t think that fish ever WAS fresh! comicbooks.com