Life, 1929-03-15 · page 21 of 44
Life — March 15, 1929 — page 21: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page critiques 1920s newspaper sensationalism and marital discord. The main article, "Operations in the Marital Hospital," argues that wealthy young divorcees shouldn't dominate front-page news alongside major crimes and achievements. Author E.S. Martin suggests early divorces are learning experiences, not moral catastrophes, though still regrettable. The lower section contains humorous quips: a joke about pipe-smokers' contradictory kindness, an inventor needing ideas, and a Prohibition jab at bootleggers. The "man's desk" cartoon series satirizes workplace inequality—showing men earning $5,000-$2,000 annually dealing with increasingly chaotic workloads, culminating in a cluttered $2,000 desk, implying lower pay correlates with worse conditions or incompetence. The puzzle challenges readers to "find the deaf man at the talking movie," referencing early sound film technology's novelty (talkies were recent).
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Operations In the Marital Hospital When a young lady gets a divorce, why should it be first page news with headlines and her picture in such papers as The World and the Herald-Trib- une? Even though she is a member of an abnormally solvent family and had a wedding with a full brass band and all that goes with it, why should her divorce seem as important as a first class hold-up, an horrendous murder, a rescue at sea or a record broken in aviation? If an unlucky girl, rich enough to be easily marriageable any time she likes, marries at a time of life when a college athlete looks good to her, and rather promptly gets tired of him, why should news of it make headlines on the front page, and put her picture in the paper? Oh well, the news editors doubtless know what news best fits their pur- poses, but one should recognize what these early divorces mean. That they are failures is not necessarily due so much to definite faults, as to lack of understanding of life. Perhaps we shall come in time to look upon such divorces as processes of instruction, very desirable to avoid by previous training or however pos- sible, but inevitable in some proportion of cases. Men are apt to fail in busi- ness when they first undertake it, at least they used to. These early fail- ures in marriage may be something like that, and it is probably in the in- terest even of morals that they should not be regarded as incurable. If they call for an operation as a preliminary to cure, that may not be so bad as Mrs. Grundy thinks it. But stars above, it is bad enough. It is worth a lot of trouble to keep out of the hospitals where marital mis- takes are treated. E. S. Martin. Men who smoke pipes are usually kindly and considerate of other people. Then why do they smoke pipes? Ixventor: Suggest something that the world needs for me to invent. Frienp: A portable parking space. Prouteition Provers: Bootleggers alter cases. THE $5000 PER YEAR PANS DESK. BD! IN Xt Be | z \ INS \ on ferod THE $2,000 PER YEAR MANS Desk comicbooks.com