Life, 1897-02-25 · page 9 of 20
Life — February 25, 1897 — page 9: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "At the Opera" - Life Magazine Satire This satirical poem mocks high society's opera attendance as performative rather than genuine appreciation. The upper illustration shows fashionably dressed attendees—the social elite who frequent opera to be seen rather than to enjoy music. The text attacks their pretentiousness: they're "not musical," attend for "notoriety," and use the event as social display. The poem catalogs specific scandal and gossip about attendees (references to divorces, affairs, and social climbing), suggesting opera season functions primarily as a venue for society gossip and status-seeking. The lower sketch depicts audience members—some appearing crude or bored—emphasizing the gap between opera's refined reputation and the actual caliber of attendees. The satire's point: wealthy opera patrons lack genuine cultural sophistication and use attendance purely for social advancement.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE OPERA. HE Opera Season cannot fail The intermission curtain drops — To capture rich society, A thousand glasses glare at them; For those who are not musical While half as many naughty fops At least love notoriety; Their printed names compare with them. And box-holders are put on show The ‘gallery god” looks smiling down, ch night with grave formality Informing all the neighbors that: (The programmes name them in a row, “The fat girl in the ermine gown Explaining their locality). Is Miss De Vere Von Taborstadt. They all belong to the Elite, “That bald-head, seated by the rail, Their blood is blue—supposedly; Who parts his hair so tastil Though some have known the smell of meat, Once languished in the county jail sold socks composcdly. For getting rich too hastily Their daughters mz a rare display — The red-haired girl in salmon pink — The mothers in complicity — Her maiden name was Ogleman— With costumes cut décolleté, Has been divorced three times, I think, Regardless of publicity. And now has hooked a nobleman.” So, while the tongue of scandal wags, The exhibition flourishe: And, as the gossip never flags, The interest never perishes. They cannot miss this scrutiny, But we will grant, in charity, There is one thing they fail to see— Their manifest vulgarity.