Life, 1895-06-06 · page 12 of 16
Life — June 6, 1895 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page 378 This page contains satirical humor pieces mocking social pretension and emerging entertainment industries. **Top cartoon**: Advises readers how to impress restaurant management through affected sophistication—complaining about food quality, pestering the busy manager, and offering unsolicited advice. The satire targets diners who fake expertise to appear cultured while actually being rude and oblivious. **"Regular Course" cartoon**: A crude colonial-era joke equating missionary work to being served as food ("follow the fish"), presenting the "savage king" as a cannibal host. This reflects period attitudes toward non-Western peoples. **"A Want" section**: References *Trilby* and its villain Svengali (a hypnotist who controlled a woman through music), expressing frustration with a woman's terrible singing. The final note mocks the nascent "living picture industry" (early cinema) as destined for failure—a prescient joke, since cinema obviously thrived despite this prediction. All three pieces employ satire about pretension, exoticism, and emerging modern anxieties.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
nonchalant, ** Never mind that now; just place it back in the box, will you?" By doing this for several days you will gain the love and esteem of the management. Audible remarks derogatory to the fish or game are very telling, and stamp you at once as a connoisseur. The fact that they are excellent need not deter you from stating them to be vile. Never let a day pass without sending back the soup or game. Remark succinctly to the rest of the table that not one chef in a hundred knows how to roast a bird. In this way you will soon acquire the reputation of an epicure. It is an excellent idea to drop into the manager's private office as often as once in every week for a little talk. Be careful to select a time when you know him to be busy ; never mind if he appears disturbed ; your visit will afford him a needed rest from the cares and worry of his business. Open the conversation by observing jovially that “ it must be quite a trick to look after a house of this si He will appreciate this remark for its refreshing originality. But should his countenance still remain unamiable, facetiously add that you “ suppose he will be a rich man by the end of the season at the prices he is getting.” After letting drop a few gems of advice regarding the improvement of the cuésine, hand him a cigar and retire gracefully, after promis- ing to look in again in a day or so. Richard Stillman Powell. REGULAR COURSE. RRIVING MISSIONARY: May I ask what course you intend to take with me? SAVAGE KING: The regular one. You'll follow the fish. A WANT. F dark Svengali had only lived When she tries to sing ‘* Ben Bolt,” And come to this land so free, Who makes my inmost heart revolt, I would heap his coffers with shin- Who makes my parrot weep and moult, ing gold, Who howls, and wails, and squeals ae ee ten : To get in his hypnotic work so bold “Ben Bolt.” HE living picture industry promises to On a maiden who makes my blood Wanted—Svengali ! hang itself with its own rope. Good run cold. Statham L. Williams riddance! micbooks.com