Life — April 5, 1929 — page 26: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This single-panel cartoon depicts a street scene, likely from early 20th-century urban America. A woman named Gertie (speaking in the caption) observes another woman successfully attracting a wealthy man's attention at what appears to be a storefront or social gathering. The satire targets female dating and marriage strategies, suggesting that some women are skilled at pursuing men specifically for financial gain rather than romantic reasons. The phrase "a feller wot's got money" uses working-class dialect to emphasize the mercenary nature of the pursuit. The joke reflects period anxieties about women's economic dependence and their perceived manipulation of courtship. The cartoon presents this as Gertie's envious commentary on another woman's "talent" for securing affluent suitors—satirizing both women's limited economic options and stereotypes about female gold-digging.