Life, 1896-02-20 · page 6 of 20
Life — February 20, 1896 — page 6: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "Changing the Labels" - Life Magazine Satire This page satirizes theatrical audiences and performers of the early 20th century. The title "Changing the Labels" suggests repackaging stale material as something new. The dialogue mocks actors who repeatedly tell the same tired stories to audiences, claiming exhaustion with their own narratives. One "tempted man" complains of being forced to exile himself repeatedly to justify his stage presence—a jab at actors recycling worn-out plots and excuses. The illustrations show various theatrical characters in exaggerated poses on sofas and chairs, depicting the "stage sofas" mentioned in the text. The satire targets both performers' lack of originality and audiences' tolerance for repetitive entertainment. The final quip about "some dogs were once human beings" suggests even animals would recognize this recycled material.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
CHANGING THE LABELS. forced to be so devilishly wicked and blasé, that I'm ready to marry or live in Brookly “*T propose that we change places for a while,” suggest- ed the tempted man, who during a run of one hundred nights had been resisting the Woman with a Past. “I have been out of town so much, you know. Strange, that we of the stage always have to go to Italy or Egypt to expiate our sins. I assure you I meet so many men in those places, who, like me, have run away from ladies with pasts that their society quite bores me.” “It is very stupid to exile you every time,” remarked the Woman with a Past, ‘‘because you always have to come back to me when I die, and I always die. Next time you go to Egypt, take a return ticket. I'm getting tired of that bluff that you work off every night on me. It's so long, and has such a Sanford-and-Merton-Paul- and-Virginia tone about it. And all because I maintain that to make one’s own heaven here is better than taking one’s chances of one hereafter. Do you know that this is the one hundredth time that I've told the story of my past?” . “It has long become a chestnut to me,” murmured the tempted man. ** Well,” she continued, ‘I think when I have such an uncomfortable story to tell, I might at least have a com- fortable sofa to tell it upon. These stage sofas are awfully lumpy. I don’t see why I have to tell that story —any reporter would doitso much better. I am so tired of it.” “Heaven knows,” said the tempted man, ‘that Iam tired of it. The Wicked Fascinating man, throwing off his Inverness cape and chucking his cigarette case into the audience, remarked that he also was tired of it. And another voice, a very big voice, which the Inveter- ate Theatre-goer thinks was the voice of the public, said it was tired of “IT.” Jessie M. Wood. “THERE can be no doubt that some dogs were once human beings—if the theory of evolution is correct. Comicbooks.com