Life, 1889-10-31 · page 11 of 18
Life — October 31, 1889 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page 249 This page contains multiple satirical cartoons and commentary on early 20th-century American life. **Top section**: A debate about American actors versus English actors on stage, arguing that English actors are overrepresented in American theaters despite American actors' superior work ethic. **"Justifiable Revenge"** (left cartoon): Shows two well-dressed men; the caption references a man sitting "in front of a couple of young women" at a show who kept "his beaver on till I made their necks ache." **Center cartoons**: Appear to mock domestic life—one shows children on a scale, another depicts a musician. **Right cartoon**: References "Mr. Spottser" and Wagner's music, suggesting satire about pretentious cultural consumption. The page satirizes American social hierarchies, domestic tensions, and cultural pretensions of the era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
but it is a question whether the fact does not rest on a broader basis. LiFe dislikes to admit even the possibility of such a thing, but it looks very much as though the English actor was winning his place on the American stage largely on his merits. The Amer- ican stock actor who makes a hit immediately insists on becoming a star; but in England there is a whole race of actors who are content to remain inthe ranks and do the minor parts well. The English stage is overcrowded with middle-class actors, and the dis- covery of the American field is a godsend to them. They have been born and bred on the stage and have not the vaulting ambition of their American con/frére. They do better work for the same or less money, and do not make a manager's life a torment with incessant | demands for recognition. These things being true, it is not remarkable that the American is being crowded tothe wall. Nevertheless, it galls us just as much to see English tramp steamers and English actors | capturing American dollars which ought to go into American pockets, SKILLFUL cook is the most popular of all in- terior decorators, JUSTIFIABLE RE 'ENGE. “WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN, BROWN, THAT YOU LOOK 80 DELIGHTED?” “Circus,” ““Goop show, EH?” “No, poor sHow; BUT I $aT IN RONT OF A COUPLE OF YOUNG WOMEN AND KEPT MY BEAV)R ON TILL I MADE THEIR NECKS acHE, IT WAS IMMENSEOLD MAN.” PROVIDED FOR. Visitor (departing): THERE, BOBBY, THERE'S A CENT FOR YOU, Bobby (with dignity): Faxxs, V'8E DoT Oo: R.C.; The season is now here when there is practical unan- imity on the question of a national flower. C,: What's that? MR.C.: Buckwheat flour. Mr, Speitser (enthusiastically): AcH! DoT WAGNER MUSICK WAS SOUND HUMAN ALMOST SOMEDIMES, ““YOU STAY DARE, AIN'D UT. I VAS OF HOLDIN’ YOU GET TIRED.” comicbooks.com