Life, 1910-10-27 · page 29 of 44
Life — October 27, 1910 — page 29: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The top cartoon satirizes speculation about financial outcomes. Two men in formal dress lean toward a central pedestal topped with a glowing sphere, operating what appear to be betting mechanisms or fortune-telling devices. The caption "Ten Years After: Portraits of Two Fortunate Men Who Guessed Right the First Time" suggests they made successful predictions—likely about investments, stocks, or other uncertain ventures. The visual joke mocks the impossibility of accurate prediction: their "fortune-telling" apparatus is merely mechanical contraption, implying their success was pure luck rather than skill. The lower section discusses prize-fight cinematograph pictures then controversial in London. The text debates whether boxing films are scandalous or harmless entertainment, noting British moral standards were shifting—people attended church less but found prize-fighting increasingly brutal and unacceptable. The brief dialogue between Mrs. Hatterton and Mrs. Vorteley concerns social plans, likely unrelated to the main content.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“Pen Godw TEN YEARS AFTER PORTRAITS OF TWO FORTUNATE MEN WHO GUESSED RIGHT THE FIRST TIME More Prize Fight Pictures UR prize-fight pictures have been shown in London, and the London Mail says that as a scandal and an outrage on civilization they are very disappointing. “Cut out the last round,’ says the Mail, “and the whole might be shown to a young ladies’ seminary."” A good deal of the hitting, it seems, shows imperfectly in the pictures, there is no blood, and it is all pretty mild. Any one who has ever seen prize- fight cinemetograph pictures (which were not thought to be so depraved until this year), can understand about it. The pictures are no loss to public entertainment, but in themselves they are comparatively harmless. The real argu- ment against them was that they helped to make prize-fighting profitable and somehow prize-fighting seems to no longer de- serve toleration. Our habits are changing. We go to church less generally, keep Sunday less strictly, drink rum less osten tatiously and consider prize-fights brutal. But it continues to be matter for argument whether we grow better or worse. RS. HATTERSON afternoot Mas. Votertey: an afternoon tea. Are you going to be at home this T should say not! My husband is giving comicbooks.com