Life, 1929-06-07 · page 28 of 48
Life — June 7, 1929 — page 28: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three separate satirical pieces mocking early 1920s American society: **"Lord Shave Us!"** ridicules modern barber shops claiming artistic pretension. The joke: a fancy New York barber parlor insists on sterile professionalism, yet the author performs the identical function (making cuts) with his safety razor each morning—exposing the pretense that barbering is "art." **"Barberic Relics"** sarcastically defends barbers' historical importance (they were physicians who performed bloodletting with multi-bladed devices) while questioning why the profession remains low-status despite serving society's elite. **"Big Operators!"** satirizes Wall Street excess during Prohibition. The author visits a brokerage office expecting serious finance but finds it's actually a speakeasy—brokers drink highballs while operating the stock ticker. The implied critique: financial markets are frivolous gambling dens, not legitimate enterprises, and Prohibition is openly ignored by the wealthy. The cartoon illustration shows a crowded social gathering, reinforcing themes of excess and performative respectability.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Lord Shave Us! VEN the barbers have gone E modern! . . . in the New York Central building you will find a tonsorial parlor, conducted by M’sieu de Zemler, which is the last word in hirsute histrionics . . . and the last word literally, as not one of the smocked artists of the chair asks you if you wouldn't like a face massage, hair-tonic, singe, shampoo, etc, etc... .in fact they are very aloof and take their art very seriously. Barberic Relics M. Zemler has on exhibition a very interesting collection of Eighteenth Century barber's implements . . . in those good old days the barbers were also doctors and cured everything, from Fallen Arches to Mumps, with the Bleeder . . . this is a small brass box-like affair containing six small knives in slots held by a strong spring wer o> a Te « when pressed against the flesh the spring is released and the knives make six nice gashes in your epider- mis, the idea being to let out blood « how we have progressed! ... I do the very same thing every morning with a safety razor! But Is It Art? Why is it Barber Shops are con- sidered such low places when they are patronized by our best people and why should the profession of barber be held in such low esteem? . he can become just as expert in his craft as the sculptor with his chisel, or the artist with his brush . . . he moulds the heads containing the best brains in the world . . . he is the des- tiny that shapes our upper ends yet he has been maligned for years . . T'll bet that if the Barber’s Society put on a show it would be much more gentlemanly, say, than the Illustra- tor's . . . let us give the knight of the Razor his due... three shears for the barber! . . . Our hats off to him! cer it f° Big Operators! Last week I had occasion to visit the Custom House where I tried to convince the Income tax inspector that the item of $600 for typewriters on my 1927 tax was due to the fact that I wore out a typewriter a month .., being in the neighborhood of the great financial giants I decided to call on a broker friend of mine and sce if money was any easier . . . the switch- board girl informed me that my friend wasn’t in but that I would find him in Room 707... The door of Room 707 bore the sign L. BOW & CO. INVESTMENT BROKERS . . . im. agine my surprise when I was ushered in to find a beautiful mahogany bar and all the accessories! ... in the center of the room was a ticker around which were gathered several big op- erators sipping highballs and studying the market! . . . among them I found my friend and he very generously quit work and took me on a_per- sonally conducted tour of Wall street . why in one building alone we dis- covered six speakeasies! Put me among the Girls! The Woman's Exchange. comicbooks.com