Life, 1888-03-29 · page 10 of 16
Life — March 29, 1888 — page 10: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "Struck Oil" - A Comic Serial This page presents a serialized visual narrative titled "Struck Oil; Or, The Fortunes and Misfortunes of Two Un-Commercial Travelers." The four sequential illustrations depict two traveling salesmen encountering what appears to be an oil strike or gusher. The drawings use exaggerated physical comedy typical of early Life magazine humor—the figures are knocked about, covered in oil, and rendered in slapstick situations. The left column contains "An Intercepted Letter," a society piece about a young woman named Sophie Glassmeyer writing from New York about attending theater and falling in love with actor Mr. Mantell. The satire gently mocks her romantic enthusiasms and theatrical gossip. The comic strip's humor derives from the physical chaos of accidentally discovering oil—a relevant economic topic of the era—contrasted with the letter's romantic sentimentality.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
AN INTERCEPTED LETTER. Te following letter, addressed, with several blots, to Miss May Bamberger, Cincinapolis, Ohio, and written on a sheet of paper which was not in any degree related to the envelope in which it was enclosed, has come into LIFe’s possession in a perfectly honorable way. We feel sure that we are committing no breach of confidence in giving it to our readers. NEw YorK, Tuesday, morning. My Own DaRLiInG May :— I am having a perfectly lovely time, and have been to the theatre almost every night since I have been here. It hasn't cost Papa anything for tickets, and that makes him very good-natured. Charlie Bernstein is the manager of a theatre—I know he is, because, one evening, I saw him standing out in front of a theatre with his hands full of tickets and money—and he sends us tickets for everything. He says it is fash- ionable to go late, so he doesn’t send the tickets until half-past eight or a quarter of nine. And now, dear, I am going to tell;you something which / wouldn't tell to another soul on ‘earth, except my own precious May. 1am really in love. And who do you suppose it is ?—Mr. Mantell, the actor! He is playing here in a piece called “ Monbars,” and I have seen him four times. You know, dear, I have seen almost all the good actors, but I never felt like this for one before. Of course, I know I'ma fool, but he seems to be such a perfect gentleman, and, oh, dear! has so much repose of manner. In the quiet parts of his acting he seems to be so gentle and so strong that I could just throw my arms around him and hug him to death. And his form, dear, is perfectly divine, but he really doesn’t seem to be calling attention to it all the time, like so many other actors, who, as Harry Isaacs says, “ travel on their shape.” To show you that I am not so big a fool as I seem, dear, I will tell you that I can still see his imperfections. His voice isn’t one bit per- suasive, and I don’t believe Papa would keep him in his store a week. I'm ashamed to say it, dear, but I really think there is something the matter with his joints—he seems so stiff. But still J Jove kim/ He is so honest and earnest in everything he does that it seems just like what areal man would do, instead of an actor who gets money for saying things that some one else has written for him to say. There is one place in the play where he burns his arm with a red-hot poker. 1 don’t believe he really burns his arm, for he does it every night and at two matinees each week. His arm wouldn't last very long, and he has been playing “ Monbars” all winter ; so I don’t believe he really burns it, do you? Give my love to Sam and Levi, and write soon to Your loving SOPHIE GLASSMEYER. Metcalfe. “STRUCK OIL;" Or, THE FORTUNES AND MISFORTUNES OF Two. UN-COMMERCIAL TRAVELERS,