Life, 1911-06-01 · page 11 of 52
Life — June 1, 1911 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a "Life" magazine page titled "To the Bride!" celebrating weddings, specifically American heiresses marrying foreign nobles—a phenomenon of that era. The top illustration shows a wedding procession with an early automobile, depicting the modern spectacle of such marriages. The text ironically celebrates brides as "nothing succeeds like the bride" while satirizing the chaos of wedding preparations and the commercialization around them. The bottom illustration, captioned "THE FIRST AMERICAN HEIRESS WHO MARRIED A FOREIGNER," depicts a figure gazing pensively at ships on the horizon—likely a commentary on wealthy American women marrying European aristocrats. The satire suggests these marriages represent both romance and transatlantic commerce, with undertones about American wealth being "exported" through matrimonial alliances with foreign nobility.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
To the Bride! Ne succeeds like the bride. And this number of Lire is intended to be a tribute to that exalted being who now holds the center of the world’s stage; for whom railroad employees are working overtime, and hotel attachés siruggte to do honor. The scent of orange blossoms is in the air. All sorts conditions of trousseaux are being constructed, amid whirlwinds of suppressed excitement. Time-tables are being secretly perused. Affable jewelers are being consulted with n air of apparent indifference. Hasty kisses are being ex- inged. There is not even time for quarrels, while the poor bridegroom is already beginning to feel the coming shadow of that permanent obscurity that will later envelope him. Papa and mamma are going about their business as if noth- ing mattered, concealing their sighs even from each other; smiling outwardly and inwardly preoccupied—glad and sorry. Old servants are looking sad. New servants are doing more than they expected to do, and willingly, Nobody is shirking. The crop of brides this year promises to be larger than ever, in spite of certain prejudiced critics. And who shall say that, after all, this is not the most important crop of the year? Please, therefore, gentle reader, look beneath all the lines of this number; you will discover, like some subtle essence, the spirit of Love. Here's to Beauty, Wit, Grace, Charm and every. other virtue. For whoever saw a bride who did not have them all? THE FIRST AMERICAN HEIRESS WHO MARRIED A FOREIGNER comicbooks.com