Life, 1929-05-10 · page 21 of 44
Life — May 10, 1929 — page 21: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains satirical commentary on 1920s American life, presented through three distinct pieces: **"The Letters of a Modern Father"** is a humorous letter from a father to his daughter. The satire targets wealthy, indulgent youth: the daughter asks to study art in Paris under the guise of self-improvement and filial duty, but her father sees through the transparent excuse. He's also dealing with his son Sheridan's reckless aviation crashes (crashing planes into bungalows repeatedly). The father's dry wit exposes how young people use noble-sounding justifications for frivolous travel while parents quietly fund their escapades. **"Plane Talk"** offers brief observational humor about airplane culture and baldness—references to 1920s fascination with aviation and cosmetic concerns. **The cartoons** illustrate everyday domestic and professional scenes with gentle mockery of modern life: a couple's argument over "that precious little thing called love," radio obsession, and a doctor-golfer joke. The overall theme: satirizing the wealthy leisure class, generational disconnect, and modern technological preoccupations of the era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The Letters of a Modern Father My Dear Daughter: Your recent finishing school back- hand in which you asked if you might go abroad with your roommate when the term is over has gone unanswered because your brother Sheridan made a bad landing the other day and I've been busy settling the case out of court. Sheridan lit on a bungalow this.time and, as you know, his ship is a little heavy for a time-payment cottage. Of course, I didn’t suppose you needed an answer. When you put fe ely that in about your object being to give = We? 5 KG, dear mother a complete rest by being ‘ “ out of the way all summer, and that you hated to go but thought you owed it to her, I knew the matter was set- tled and you probably had applied for your passport. You didn’t need to add all that stuff about vour dutv to The chain store proprietor goes fishing. OS lg PUY Wis Uey Z Za Plane Talk f No one can say that we aren't air conscious. The people across the way leave their radio on all day and most of the night. Being bald has its good points. If you have no hair at all on your head there is no temptation to part it in the “That precious little thing called love.” middle. improve yourself by seeing the world; the self-sacrifice and filial duty part was sufficient. Your mother asks me to tell you to go ahead. She is a little upset. Some- how, she can’t get accustomed to Sheri- dan’s landings. I don’t care for that paragraph about your devotion to art and throwing yourself heart and soul into your paint- ing in Paris. You must be getting a lit- tle dizzy if you expect me to swallow that. Just take the enclosed check and go to Europe and have a good time. My children may bankrupt me but they'll never fool me. If you had just written a nice normal letter saying you were going I'd have sent you a list of places to visit in Paris. Your Affectionate Father, —McCready Huston. Good dance music soon goes to the dogs. Nothing footless about this! Docror to Gorr Buc: Your handicap is twins! USE LIFE’S TICKET SERVICE comicbooks.com