Life, 1929-04-05 · page 54 of 56
Life — April 5, 1929 — page 54: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page showcases **reader letters** to Life magazine, a major American satirical publication. The letters reveal contemporary social concerns: **Key References:** - **Bridge**: A reader condemns the card game as time-wasting and mentally degrading—reflecting early 20th-century debates about leisure and productivity. - **Knickerbocker, Jr.**: A Life columnist writing about New York nightlife; one reader laments missing the city's glamorous scene. - **Texas Guinan**: A famous speakeasy hostess during Prohibition, referenced as a symbol of New York's illicit nightlife. - **"Weary Willie" and "Dusty Rhodes"**: Tramp characters from earlier Life cartoons; a reader nostalgically requests their return, lamenting that current humor focuses on topical issues (Mussolini, prohibition, aviation). The page reflects 1920s anxieties: changing morality, Prohibition's effects, and nostalgia for simpler humor. The advertisements (Kermath engines, Wetzel clothing) anchor this in commercial American culture.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Dear Lire: Will you give me just a tiny place in one of your columns to ease my mind of something I have to say? It is about bridge. I hate the game and despise those who play it. The waste of time, talent and good to bacco smoke that goes into that so-called recreation would run the industries of the country for the next four years and bring decency even to New York. Bridge does not develop the mind. It degrades it, h and enfecbles the intelligence. There is not one intelli- he world over for thelr extreme gent argument in its favor. I call upon the people of the 2 I Statenewe wonte ie U. S. to abolish the silly game and get to work. Elmer Wing, Rat aun Corsten Wf oy 55 to $2300 Columbus, Ohio. ATH MANUFACTURING COMPANY, + ls 9 W., Torvato, Ontario. 23° Pa Editor of Lire Dear Sir: Will you please fire, bury or otherwise get rid of Knick- erbocker, Jr. He is destroying my peace of mind. The more I read about the goings on in New York the more I wish I were there; and this year I must miss my an- nual trip to the “Big Sucker City.” Don’t keep rubbing it in, Lire. Fire Knick at once. Give my love to Texas Guinan, She won’t remember me, but tell her that here’s another Westerner pining for a four-day Whoopee. I wouldn’t live there if you paid me. Edgar C. Watts, Butte, Montana. Editor of Lire Dear Sir: Why don’t you get out a good magazine instead of using all those stupid pictures? Pictures appeal only to the lowest forms of animal life, namely tabloid readers. I read the American Mercury and other publications and enjoy them but I’ve never read Lire and never will. Too many pictures, Scott Peters, Little Rock, Arkansas. eferl y. Dear Editor: @ Thank Heaven Lire is back to roc. I’ve read it every Exrabiished 1876 week but you have no idea (or perhaps you have) how Bek tS Feely a eer 3 valuable a nickel is in New York City, for subways, A telephone, etc. Thank you, Lire, thank you again for letting me keep that extra nickel in my pocket. An old time reader. E Dear Lire: LLOWING the Lire is not what it was. What has happened to all form ‘of fashion the good “tramp” jokes you used to run? Isn't the wh athe: vouch ot tramp funny any more? Or is the country too pros- good taste is a perous for such as he? distinctive attathmient Anyway I miss “Weary Willie” and “Dusty Rhodes” of WETZEL. } cooking their meals in an old tin can by the railroad ae f track. I miss the “Dude,” too. Do you remember that he was always sucking the head of his cane. And I miss “Willie Bostonbean” with his erudite remarks. Lire’s jokes now are all about Mussolini, prohibition and aeroplanes. All very amusing I admit, but tell me what has happened to Dusty Rhodes? Has he made his pile? Copyright by Wetuel H. H. Buchanan, Sacramento, Cal. comicbooks.com