Life, 1929-07-26 · page 10 of 36
Life — July 26, 1929 — page 10: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes American wealth and social pretension during the Jazz Age. The upper illustration depicts an elegant social gathering—likely a high-society event—with the caption asking "Pardon me, are you the Pond's Cream Mrs. Biltmore or the Simmons Bed's one?" This mocks how wealthy socialites became walking advertisements, their identities merged with commercial products they endorsed. The lower cartoon shows a shipwrecked man optimistically toasting amid disaster, labeled "The former doorman who was shipwrecked." This appears to satirize working-class resilience or possibly the class contradictions of the era—even in catastrophe, the formerly humble maintain their spirits. The left column's brief anecdotes (Hoover fishing, Wall Street schemes, rare steaks) mock various American institutions and pretensions through sardonic observation.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
American Institutions Golluf Clubs Lectric Light Cumpneez State Legislaychoors Streecars You don’t need to go to a musical comedy. Stand in front of a radio store where the music is playing and watch the crowds pass. President Hoover lost a big trout after playing it three minutes. The trout probably went home and said, “Well, I shook hands with the Presi- dent today.” There are men in Wall Street who have been trying for forty or fifty years to get rich quick. What is so rare as the steak we order well-done? “Pardon me, are you the Pond’s >» Cream Mrs. Biltmore or the Simmons Bed’s one?” The former doorman who was ship- wrecked. comicbooks.com