Life, 1906-06-28 · page 9 of 25
Life — June 28, 1906 — page 9: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three distinct pieces: 1. **"Biblical Plays"** article discussing controversy over dramatizing Biblical stories on stage, arguing against dismissing such plays as mere entertainment. 2. **"Why They Married"** cartoon (lower left): A caricatured couple with the caption explaining the man married to escape his nagging wife—a common domestic humor trope of the era. The joke suggests marriage was a reluctant escape rather than a romantic choice. 3. **"June" illustration** (upper right): A decorative seasonal image with cherubs, typical of the magazine's monthly artwork. 4. **Text sections** on Fourth of July celebrations and anarchism, reflecting early 20th-century social anxieties about radicalism and public safety. The page reflects period concerns about moral entertainment standards and traditional marriage dynamics.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
-LIFE- Biblical Plays 'HE development and expan- sion of the Biblical drama is responsible for a controversy which, in England at least, has assumed grave proportions. Serious writers in serious maga- zines are seriously quoting Archilochus, Lucretius and the Manuel de Péché to prove that we are better or worse for going to see ‘The Prodigal Son” or “The Shepherd King.” It is clearly understood that if the “Nonconformist conscience” (we have its equivalent here) can be set at rest on this important point, the fortunes of the Biblical dramatists are made. Most of us dislike to face the theory of our amusements, and a word of commendation from a popular preacher will carry a play farther on its way than the exhaustive praise of critics. It is strange that the sight of a civilized world struggling tensely with fearful issues cannot supply English-speaking playwrights with all the subject matter they require. The dramatic nature of our great social, financial and racial prob- lems is apparent to everyscribbler for the press; and journalism walks buskined through the land. But the pensive dramatist, unwarmed by the heat of con- flict, is busy adapting romantic novels for the stage; and when these fail him he goes to work on his Bible. Abraham as a jeune premier, Jezebel for an adventuress, the Witch of Endor for lime-lights and sensation. A few Sunday-school posters, a few lying truisms about the drama as a ‘‘moral force” or a “spiritual engine,” a few encomiums from the pulpit, and the process is complete. Its simplicity commends it to the playwright, its ethics to the controversialist, its returns to the manager. The audience doesn’t count. Agnes Repplier. Ambiguous TH COACHMAN: I shall have to leave your service, sir. InsuRANCE PrestDENT: I am sorry to hear that, John Why? “When I’m a-drivin’ of you, sir, I hear folks say, ‘There goes that thief,’ and I don’t know which of us they mean.” Is This Why We Celebrate ? [JN THIS country to-day, happy, blissful, ‘running about with joy in their little hearts, there are between two and three hundred children who will be lying dead on the morn- ing of the fifth of July. Like Sometimes Breeds Dislike DO not anticipate any increase in the number of the anarchists from the recent marriage of Mr. Bergman, lately released from prison, and Miss Emma Goldman. Their children, if they have any, seem more likely to be strict Pres- byterians. Two negatives habitually produce an affirmative, THIS COUPLE BEFORE YOU ARE HUSBAND AND WITT; and perhaps as handy a way as any to get rid of the anarch Hx LOOKS SORRY AND JUST A BIT MARRIED. ies would be4o indace then to tnienmarry./ Ie’would be IT TOOK A MERE TWO:SPOT TO SCARE tha TOR LATE ists would be to induce them to intermarry. Tt would be an AT LEAST THAT'S THE REASON he MARRIED! awful remedy, but then the disease is very bad. WHY THEY MARRIED? comicbooks.com