Life, 1893-11-02 · page 11 of 14
Life — November 2, 1893 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page 283 This page contains theatrical/operatic satire with musical accompaniment. The top illustration depicts characters struggling with luggage, accompanying lyrics about being "stranded there" with "tramp-ing af...tee the." The middle section titled "SOCIETY'S VIEW" features a brief dialogue between Mrs. Bostonne and Mrs. Manhattan discussing an upcoming opera season—a gentle mockery of high society's musical pretensions. "THE QUEST OF THE IMPOSSIBLE" presents a monologue from a bachelor describing his futile search for an intelligent bride across America—from Boston to Denver to New Orleans. The joke satirizes both the bachelor's impossibly high standards and contemporary American women. The bottom illustration shows six figures in period dress with musical notation, captioned "Fair." The overall satire targets upper-class affectation regarding arts and romance.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
many are strand ed there. Some on the ties go S- tramp — ing an agreeable rendering of a beloved classic, with no specially distinctive features, good or bad. For one thing Mr. Mansfield deserves great credit. His orchestra, under the direction of Mr. Gustav Dannreuther, is a small one, but it is thoroughly efficient and plays good music. The inevitable xylophone player is entirely omitted and music of the * Razzle-Dazzle " order is taboo J. Mr. Mansfield’s ambition is a healthy one, and the public is indebted to him for the honesty of this production, even if he does seem to have over-stepped the limit of his present abilities. Time and study may, and we think will, give him a better appreciation of the part. It isa parlous undertaking for a manager nowadays to produce a Shakesperean play, and that Mr, Mansfield should make the risky investment entitles him at least to respectful consideration from lovers. of the better drama. SOCIETY’S VIEW. N RS. BOSTONNE: 1 understand that you will have a season of nd opera this winter. Mrs. MANK? : Yes; and it will be that nice, low Italian music that doesn’t interrupt conversation. THE QUEST OF THE IMPOSSIBLE. STEN, maids and matrons, to a pitcous tale of woe. Produce your dainty kerchiefs, for your tears are bound to flow. I'm a bachelor of thirty-five, and a millionaire beside ; But for some unhappy reason I've never found a bride. I don't sink that I'm bad looking, and I now my heart is kind ; But the sort of girl I want to wed is the sort I never find. The pretty girls are plenty and the clever ones not few, But to the girl who'd just suit me it’s hard to get a clew. Perhaps yoa think I'm finicky and very hard to suit ; Likewise you may imagine that I'm more or less a brute. But the case is really simple, and [ think you'll soon admit ‘That the trouble rests with Nature and I'm not to blame a bit. I've roamed from Vassar College to the plains of Kalamazoo: I've searched all over Boston and Kansas City, too; I've sat out dances many with New York's patrician belles ; I've been in San Francisco, where the miner's heiress dwells. In New Orleans and in Denver, in Chicago and Detroit, In Skowhegan and St. Louis, in Cincinnati and Beloit ; All over this vast country I've been on boats and trains, But I've never found a pretty girl who had an ounce of brains. Metcalfe. comicbooks.com