Life, 1883-10-11 · page 3 of 16
Life — October 11, 1883 — page 3: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of "Fame" Cartoon, Life Magazine, Page 173 This cartoon satirizes American tourism in 19th-century London. An American tourist approaches a Commercial Man, asking directions to Oliver Goldsmith's house. The joke hinges on the Commercial Man's response: Goldsmith was a famous *author*, not a businessman with an office—he has no commercial address to direct someone to. The satire targets American tourists' ignorance of European literary culture and their tendency to seek famous figures primarily for commercial or transactional reasons. It also mocks the gap between literary fame and practical accessibility—Goldsmith's literary importance doesn't translate into a locatable office one can simply visit.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Neen nn Scene, London—Time XIX. Century. American Tourist: I BEG YOUR PARDON, SIR; BUT CAN YOU DIRECT ME TO THE HOUSE OF OLIVER GoLpsMITH ? . Commercial Man; GOLDSMITH—WHAT MIGHT HIS BUSINESS BE, MUM? A. T.: | REFER TO GOLDSMITH THE AUTHOR. C. M.: O—tH—, I DON'T THINK HE HAS AN OFFICE IN THIS SQUARE, MUM. A —'S RHYME. Two walked away, and one ran back. eae Says he: ‘* That gun was very cru’l.” ] ENEW Sinan and knew bis wiles The startled neighbors shricked and cried, Great learning had they from the schools ; «When Ge eee Yet candor forces me to say , They were € palr.of ——-. Last night I viewed a marble slab, All graven with a practiced tool, They had ason who.carly.drank And read thereon these stony words: From hard Experience’s pool, Who knew much more than older folks, "Here Hes a itl And also was 2 —, CAMPBELL PALMER. These parents bought this boy a gun, With little bullets, hard and cool. “ New York, Sept. 6, 1883. G. P. Westcott, cashier Upon the gun was sweetly carved, of the Coney Island Club pool rooms at West Brighton, * To our beloved —.” has decamped with $4,000 belonging to his em- ployer. He was arrested, but while on his way to jail One grave old fogy shook his head overpowered the officer and escaped.” —Boston Herald. And thereby gained much ridicule,— The weakness of a West Brighton policeman, when The boy went hunting with a friend, his antagonist hits him with a thousand-dollar bill, is Another precious —. remarkable. comicbooks.com