Life, 1929-06-21 · page 25 of 40
Life — June 21, 1929 — page 25: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This 1920s *Life* magazine page satirizes the era's enthusiasm for cooperative business schemes and gambling. The main feature, "Co-Operative Roulette," mocks a proposed gambling game where ten people collectively "incorporate" as stockholders of the bank, each depositing IOUs and receiving colored chips. Winners collect from the shared bank; losers' losses are pooled. The satire targets two things: the period's earnest embrace of cooperative economics as a solution to social problems, and the absurdity of applying legitimate business structures to casual gambling to make it seem respectable and "safe for democracy." The accompanying illustrations show the scheme's inevitable chaos—people in costumes losing money while pretending it's a democratic enterprise. The "Manna-About-Town" section is typical society gossip commentary referencing jazz-age figures like Paul Whiteman (bandleader) and Rudy Vallée, along with observations about New York nightlife and fashions.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
New York Life fortune by opening a hot-soup kitchen in the lobby of Roxy's. Manna-About-Town The new churn cocktail-shakers ... the ice can be lifted out with the handle after shaking, thus keeping the drinks undiluted ...did you ever know why they put those X’s on the windows of new buildings? (why, no I never did!) ... the workmen are so accustomed to working in rooms with no glass in the windows that after the glass has been put in they forget and stick their heads out ... the roof at the Central Park Ca- sino is to be raised... the guests keep scratching their noses on it... the wow of the month—The six-day roller-skate race . . . add something— there's Whiteman, king of jazz, and then there’s Rude Vallee, king of razz ... medals herewith handed to Joe and Pete Michon of “A Night in Venice”... one grand book—“All Quiet on the Western Front”... . Here Rover! Co-Operative Roulette This being the era of things co-opera- tive, Jack Sheridan, financial genius, has stepped forward with a scheme that not only makes roulette safe for democracy but insures world peace in every home gathering ...the big idea is to incor- porate the bank ofa roulette game, or any other game, for that matter, where one person usually banks . . . here is your chance to be a Vice-president! ... for example, ten people are gathered together for the purposes of merry making, and high pres- sure roulette... instead of one poor unfortunate bank- ing, and either losing all his money or winning a lot of money and losing all his friends, each of the ten takes a share of the bank, or corporation, and deposits his I. O. U. in the bank and receives a supply of chips of his own color... if he wins he collects from the bank; if he loses, his dough goes in the bank at the end of the game, if the bank is ahead the losses are paid from the bank’s treasury, any surplus being distributed equal- ly among the stock- holders . . . if the bank is in the red, the losses are paid equally by the stockholders who got in on the ground floor —and a good time was had by all! comicbooks.com