Life, 1886-06-10 · page 10 of 18
Life — June 10, 1886 — page 10: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Life Magazine Page Analysis This page combines satirical commentary with advertisements typical of 1880s-90s Life magazine. **The Poetry & Illustration:** A sentimental poem about a man attracted to a woman at an exhibition—revealed in the punchline to be a portrait painting, not a real person. The joke mocks romantic naïveté and the artistic obsession of the era. **The "Patent Mikado Safety Traps" Advertisement:** This is elaborate satire disguised as a product ad. It advertises glass boxes to contain "blushing young buds" (unmarried women) to protect them from male attention while they pursue education. The phrase "man-proof" and references to "mothers-in-law" and "maiden aunts" as guardians mock Victorian anxieties about women's education and propriety. "Mikado" references the then-popular Gilbert & Sullivan operetta. **The Drama Section:** A theater critic reviews French operetta adaptations ("Le Serment d'Amour," "The Bridal Trap," "The Crowing Hen"), lamenting that American producers removed the French spice/sensuality to suit American "respectable morality," rendering the works pointless. The page satirizes Victorian sexual repression and cultural prudishness.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
AT THE EXHIBITION. ~ HE wears a great big bonnet With a bunch of roses on it, And 't is tied beneath her chin In a bow ; Altho’ she looks so shy, I sometimes catch her eye, As the restless crowd pass slowly To and fro, Now, do you think she 'd care If some day I should dare To speak to her, and ask her What 's her name? Alas ! tho’ fair, she ’s mute, She ‘d never heed my suit— For she ’s nothing but a picture Ina frame. We respectfully call your attention to our new PATENT MIKADO SAFETY TRAPS, especially designed for the use and protection of blushing young buds, obliged to leave home in the interests of their education, THESE TRAPS are made of strong plate glass, perfectly transparent, mounted on ebony standard with brass wheels, and can be easily moved about the city without injury to contents. WARRANTED MAN-PROOF. Mothers-in-law, maiden aunts and others of a naturally pious and retiring mind, having young girls under their protection, will find a great saving of time and anxiety by the use of this new and novel in- vention. Call and examine. HUGH KHANLUC, BERT U. MUSSENTUCH, Agents. Price (with bulldog and burglar alarm complete), $50. spRan which Audran calls ** Le Serment d'Amour” by any other name loses its odor entirely. Col. McCaull with his ‘t Crowing Hen,” produced at Wallack’s, and Sydney Rosenfeld with his ‘* Bridal Trap,” given at the Bijou, have failed to give the least idea of what the opera really was, and have succumbed to respectable morality and earnest proper-ness. Audran’s last effort is not worthy of the composer of ** Olivette” and ‘* La Mascotte.” There is nothing in ‘‘ Le Serment d'Amour,” or what did service for that work at the Bijou and Wallack’s, to bring the blush of shame to the cheek of modesty. There is little to bring the smile of pleasure to.the lips of any one. The adapters evi- dently thought that French librettos minus the Frenchness would be acceptable to Americans. In other words, they believed that ‘Le Serment d'Amour” had something. in it besides spice. They were wrong. It had not. I have seen the original, and beyond a few stage instructions, such as exits, entrances and the positions of furniture, there was nothing in the book which savored of wholesomeness. Sydney Rosenfeld placidly declares that he has discarded the original, kept only the pretty little story running through it, and re- written dialogues and everything else. I am sorry for Mr. Rosenfeld. ‘The Bridal Trap” shows how much he can’t do. His libretto is pointless, and—to use M. Aydran's vernacular—/ade, The company at the Bijou is such a good one, however, that it covers a libretto full of sins. Roland Reed, as the Drum Mayor, is quaintly entertaining’; Augusta Roche, as the Marquise, and Miss Clements, as Rosetta, are also very amusing. Col. McCaull’s ‘‘ Crowing Hen” does not claim to have been made entirely new, But it is none the better for that. Everything objection- able has been cut out, and you can feel exactly from where it has been cut. You always feel annoyed at situations for which you have been treasuring up a nice red-hot blush, when they simmer down into in- sipidity and nothingness. Then, of course, you give a sigh of relief that the precipice bas been safely passed, almost before you knew you were on the brink. “The Crowing Hen” and ‘The Bridal Trap” will not add to Audran's reputation in America, and it is improbable that either Col. McCaull or Messrs. Miles and Barton, Sydney Rosenfeld’s proprietors, will build up a fortune by its means. Alan Dale, THE. MID-OCEAN PARKWAY. CEAN travelers will be glad to learn that anew driveway has been devised which will rid them of the ennui of long sea journeys. The people who go abroad are, as a rule, barouche occupants; and while on the ocean they sadly miss their afternoon drive. How enjoy- able it would be if, after leaving the mess table, they could find John and the bays waiting for a ‘‘tool” down the road. How the fair equestrienne dreams of a canter as she wearily lolls in her steamer chair ! How the idle clubman longs for a “‘ brush” with some fast horse ! comicbooks.com