Life, 1929-05-10 · page 24 of 44
Life — May 10, 1929 — page 24: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a humorous column satirizing Manhattan nightlife and leisure activities circa the 1920s (Prohibition era). The author mocks horse racing enthusiasts, describing his Jamaica racetrack experience as tedious—watching distant dust clouds rather than actual horses, betting money on invisible animals ("Magnolia"). The "Auto Club" speakeasy is the page's centerpiece joke: an illegal bar disguised as a garage, using salvaged car seats as furniture and automobile horns to summon waiters. The satire targets both Prohibition-era speakeasies' absurd concealment and wealthy New Yorkers' appetite for novelty nightlife. Cocktails are car-themed; warnings about "liability insurance" mock reckless patrons. "Manna-About-Town" gossip updates readers on new nightclubs, society gossip, and a card game called "Hachi Hachi," alongside society snippets. The satirical edge mocks the frivolous preoccupations of Manhattan's leisure class during the Jazz Age. The illustrations show crowded speakeasies and racetrack scenes reflecting the era's social venues.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
22 ND people that are horse race fans must be! . . . maybe it’s because I’ve never been one of these here now horse lovers, but my idea of nothing to do is a horse race! . . . there’s no disputing that, on a nice sunny day, it is a pretty spec- tacle, but so is a circus and if you've seen one you've seen them all . . . and as for gambling I can get much more fun and action out of a good crap game! ... now for a flood of two or three letters from my _ horsey friends. On the Nose! Last_ week I took sixty (count ‘em) dollars out to Jamaica... af- ter much phanoogling I was finally introduced to a Bookie . . . after eye- ing me up and down very disdain- fully he escorted me out to an empty stall and allowed me to bet ten smack- ers on Magnolia ... then I rushed back to the paddock to look for my horse, hoping that someone would say “What’ve you got?” so that I could yell “Magnolia!” ... however I couldn't find Magnolia any place but I did see a little group of horses about a mile away on the other side of the field and then someone yelled “They're off!” . . . trying hard to get all excited I watched a cloud of dust come slowly around the track and up past the clubhouse but darned if I could find Magnolia ... and I know she didn’t win because when I ran back to the Bookie he just grunted and said “Want to bet on the next race?” Also Ran I followed this same procedure for the next five records with a net result of zero and all I had seen was a lot of dust ... they call that the sport of kings! The Auto Club This very original speakeasy is on the top floor of a garage in the fifties + +. the proprietor has sawed the back seats off of deceased open cars and scattered them around the room as sort of divans . . . they are very lux- urious after the hard seats usually found in most speakeasies . . . a small automobile horn is attached to each seat with which to summon a waiter . on a busy afternoon you think you are in the middle of a traffic jam! . . . cops look very natural in the place! . «+ the liquor is pretty bad and some of it I suspected of containing gaso- line! . . . all of the cocktails are named after cars and there is a very ingenious beer keg in the shape of a gasoline pump... cards of admittance are printed in the form of license plates . +. if you go there late at night take out some liability insurance first! Manna-About-Town Don Dickerman has opened another place, The Daffydill down on Eighth street and very nice it is... the country night clubs are beginning to blossom forth . . . new card game out called Hachi Hachi or Gimmi 88 . . . the gent seen on the Avenue with the white pearl earrings . . . the foursome who played bridge atop a Fifth Ave. bus—played three rubbers between gand and 57th ...a real cow, pigs and chickens in the Central Park Zoo . .. the sets by Russel Patterson at the Illustrators’ Show were swell . . . and one or two of the sketches . . . the razzberries being tossed at the news- paper columnists (and how they love it!) by an anonymous bird on the Morning Telegraph ...his column is called “Among Us Intellectuals” «+. We're still wondering why he uses that, “Us”... the Park Avenue boys a very ve ical . . every 0 cut rate night's monial again, (how d about | for me eee an are goi oe: didn’t going were g for the for tea’ comicbooks.com