Life, 1891-02-12 · page 12 of 14
Life — February 12, 1891 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Explanation for Modern Readers This page contains several interconnected jokes centered on **Sara Bernhardt**, the famous French actress. The satire works on two levels: **"A Calamity to the Trade"** mocks humorists and joke-writers who are running out of material. Their traditional targets (mothers-in-law, boarding house keepers, ice crop failures, plumbers) are no longer funny or newsworthy. As a solution, the "Humorists' Benevolent Association" proposes buying Bernhardt anti-fat treatises and bottles of "Anti-Fat (extra dry)"—a cutting joke about her weight. They'll present these "gifts" to her as a formal delegation. The subsequent quips pile on: she'll be cast as the "lean and hungry" Cassius (ironic); she'll play "The Asp" alongside Fannie Davenport's Cleopatra (implying she's snake-like); a theater extra who muttered "that's too thin!" was fired for the insult. **"The Curse of Poverty Again"** shows a poor woman refusing valentines because the one man she loved was too wealthy to marry beneath his station—a separate commentary on class divisions. The humor relies entirely on Bernhardt's celebrity status and assumptions about her appearance.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
A KINDLY CREDIT. He: MY WIT 18 DIFFERENT FROM YOURS IN ONE RESPECT, AT LEAST—IT LEAVES NO STING. She: Yes, 1T LEAVES NO STID THEN, 100, IT MERELY TICKLES YO! IT MERELY TICKLES—AND A CALAMITY TO,THE TRADE. T the regular monthly meeting of the American Humor- ous Paragraphers’ and Chestnut Inflictors’ Benevolent Association the following preamble and resolutions were unanimously and regretfully adopted : Whereas, In the course of human events it has pleased the inscrutable forces of nature to remove from our contemplation and consideration ‘one of our most fruitful subjects of comment, and Whereas, This misfortune has come upon us ata time when the ice- crop is bounteous, when the plumber owing to the mildness of the season is not accumulating millions, when the mosquito is not in season, THE CURSE OF POVERTY AGAIN “-GoIN' To SEND ANY VALENTINES THIS YEAR, ANNA MARIAR?” “No, I GUESS NOT. I NEVER SEEN RUT ONE MAN I COULD REALLY SAY I LOVED, AN’ HE WUZ TOO RICH TO MARRY A POOR GURL FOR HER WORTH,” and when the jokes pertaining to mothers-in-law an{ boarding house Lespers have ceased to be salable, now be it Resolved, That the Executive Committee of this Association be empowered to purchase one copy of Banting’s Treatise, one copy of ‘The Dangers of Otesity,” and one dozen bottles of Anti-Fat (extra dry), and be it Resolved, That upon the completion of said purchase this Association proceed in a body to her domicile, and present the said articles with the proper formalities to Mme, Sara Bernhardt. ® . * HE publishers of Lire offer for sale, at greatly reduced rates, the fol- lowing job lot of jokes and paragraphs. To interested parties the owners will communicate satisfactory reasons for selling. It is rumored that at an approaching revival of * Julius Cxear,” Mme. Sara Rernhardt will be cast for the part of “the lean and hungry Cassius.’ Mmes. Fannie Davenport and Sara Bernhardt will appear together in ‘* Cleopatra” at a matinee for the benefit of the Actors’ Fund Miss Davenport will appear as Cleopatra and Mme. Bernhardt as The Asp. One of the supers at the Garden Theatre, the other evening, ejaculated: ‘Oh, that’s too thin!" Mme, Bernhardt happened to overhear him and he was immediately discharged. comicbooks.com