Life, 1883-06-14 · page 13 of 16
Life — June 14, 1883 — page 13: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis: Life Magazine Page 287 This page contains two distinct pieces of satire: **The Main Cartoon** depicts amateur theatricals gone wrong. An overeager amateur actor, having memorized theatrical terminology ("business" = stage action), performs an elaborate death scene. When he asks the seasoned professional stage manager if he has "business" at that moment, the old pro delivers a cutting insult: the amateur has *no* business performing *at all*. The joke mocks pretentious amateurs who adopt professional jargon without genuine talent—a common subject for satirizing social climbers in the Victorian era. **The Literary Content** includes a humorous Norse mythology passage about Odin and a giant debating bridge engineering, followed by a romantic poem ("At St. Augustine, 1881") about unrequited love. These appear filler content typical of satirical magazines. **The Advertisements** at bottom promote patent medicines (hair restorer, sea-sickness remedy)—standard period advertising. The satire targets amateur performers overreaching their abilities through pretense rather than skill.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Fs : Scene: The rehearsal of a tragedy by amateurs, Amateur “ dying.” Old professional actor. Misguided Amateur (learned in the technicalities of stage idiom): loLANTHE, I DIE, AND WITH MY LAST BREATH, I BLESS THEE, (Dies at length. Then raising his head, he asks the stage-manager, an old proféssional actor, who has kindly consented, etc.) : | HAVE NO “ BUSINESS” HERE, HAVE I, Mr. SCowL? Old Professional Actor ; | HAVE NO HESITATION IN SAYING—AND I SAY IT BOLDLY—YOU HAVE no business HERE AT ALL! “ Guess again.” “ Because he’s taking a gallop up.” “No, no.” “Well, I give it up.” “ Because, id Odin solemnly, “it’s not trussed.” And he opened his eyes and looked severely through a flint mjountain, 10,000 miles away. “Yes,’’ said Vafthrudner, slowly, like a man drop- ping an ace out of his sleeve, “ but it is.” “What is ?” demanded Odin. “The Brooklyn bridge,” replied the giant; “it is stiffened with trusses; all suspension bridges are.” “Well!” roared Odin, with a howl that raised a lump on the mountain he had been looking at, “ what of that? The beer saloon is n't!” And then the giant recognized the gjod, and re- marking that he didn’t often die, but when he did it was about this time of the century, twisted off his head and handed it to Odin, who carried it to Asgard, and the gods feasted on souse. As the Elder Edda sings, in Grimmer’s lay— . The gods and dwarfs were there to dine ‘And many more beside, And what they could not eat that night, Next morning Mrs. Oder Freyjad. R. J. BuRDETTE. AT ST. AUGUSTINE. 1881. oO NLY the blue far above me, Fragrance of cedar and pine— Gently, sweet breeze, gently move me, Low in my hammock of vine. Only the blue far above me, Round me the jasmine and rose ; If 1 should tell, would she love me? Can it be true that she knows? Deep as the blue far above me Flows the wild stream of my soul ; Ah! if she would only prove me, Show me or tell me the goal. Dark grows the blue far above me, Bitter and strong the breeze blows ; I may not know if she loves me, Nor do I eare if she knows, R. Ir any one knows a real good antidote for sea-sickness, he will hear some- thing to his advantage by addressing Chandler, Washington, D. C.—Adv. Try the Ingersoll Hair Restorer. 25 cents.—Adv. BS comicbooks.com