Life, 1893-03-02 · page 7 of 14
Life — March 2, 1893 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page 135 This page satirizes **Marie Tempest**, a British-born actress working in America. The text presents her as someone English society might reject as an undesirable immigrant, yet she's successfully performing in the U.S. theater. The large illustration shows a woman (Tempest) as a **butterfly** being foiled by a man with a butterfly net—a visual metaphor for her elusiveness and artistry. The artist praises her skill at "penetrating a dude with her foil," suggesting her talent lies in comedic stage combat. Below are several comic dialogues mocking common human behaviors: lovers' misunderstandings, bureaucratic obstacles, and artist-patron relationships. The satire reflects turn-of-century American attitudes toward British entertainers and immigrant performers in theater.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
MARIE TEMPEST. Arisorcn English, Miss Marie Tempest could hardly be classed as an undesirable immigrant, Other persons have come from the British Isles whom these United States might spare far better than the subject of the adjacent sketch. Miss Tempest’s first act on coming into this world was prophetic of her future career. It was an attempt to reach high C, and was so successful that her parents and attendant were very much gratified. To be sure, there was no financial return from this effort, but it demonstrated the possession of lungs and vocal powers which have often since enabled Miss Tempest to change notes into gold. Lire does not propose to tell when Miss Tempest was born. In the first place, it doesn’t know, and in the second place, a woman's age is alto- gether too serious a matter for a humorous weekly to have anything to dowith. Suffice ittosay Miss Tempest is no older than she looks, and, judg- ing by her public appearances, she is no older than she feels ; both of which facts ought to be satisfactory to the public, Asan artist, she has a faculty of smoothing all the wrinkles out of her audience and turning them into dimples of pleasure. Our artist has graphically portrayed the lady in the very act of penetrating a dude with her foil, and as she comes from the land of London Punch, we feel justified in saying that she could not foil to do this every time she tried. AN OLD TRUTH RE-STATED. HE: 1 believe you don't care for me as much as you say you do. With you, I think, it is “out of sight, out of mind.” HE (earnestly): Youare right, for when you are out of my sight, I am out of my mind. EASILY EXPLAINED. S™ PETER: Why is every- one so uneasy. GabRIEL: There's acollector at the gate and wants to get in. HE trouble with the labor agitator is that he wants to become the capitalist whom he hates. MARIE TEMPEST. IRST ARTIST: Well, old man, how's business ? SECOND ARTIST: Oh, splendid! Got a commission this morning from a mil- lionaire. Wants his children painted very badly. First ARTIST ( pleasantly): Well, my boy, you're the very man for the job. comicbooks.com