Life, 1911-10-19 · page 14 of 48
Life — October 19, 1911 — page 14: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two distinct sections: **Upper Section - "Opera Porteri"**: A Latin-language poem mocking operatic conventions, followed by a quote from H.E. Porter about the opera season. **Lower Section - "Hat Tips Again"**: A social commentary piece criticizing the practice of hat-check extortion in New York restaurants and hotels. The accompanying cartoon ("An Old Familiar Haunt") depicts a couple in what appears to be an intimate or compromising situation at an establishment—likely illustrating how such venues enable questionable behavior while profiting from patrons via excessive tipping requirements. The article satirizes how hat-check attendants exploit the tipping system, making patrons feel obligated to overpay. The cartoon suggests these establishments attract dubious clientele while normalizing uncomfortable social dynamics through commercialized service expectations.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Opera Porteri CARMEN jadlowker dalmores O lucia sextetta bizet; O dippel caruso dolores, Gioconda, 0 andré-caplet. O conti, o eames tettrazini, O scotti mascagni farrar. O gadski busoni puccini, Calvé constantino maquarre. Ah, verdi pagliace’ trovatore, Aida fremstad meyerbeer; Pol plancon—and that tells the story, The opera season is here. i. E. Porter. Quotation to Fit ‘ DON’T see why the doctors and surgeons conduct so many experi- ments on monkeys,” says the man with the white necktie. “Why, don’t you know that old medical quotation, ‘Simian similibus curantur’?” asks the man with the offset ears. “OM, DEAREST, ISN'T IT GRAND TO BE UP MERE IN TILE VAST MEAVENS ALL ALONE MORRID LITTLE BOD! LL the world loves a lover—except the husband. AN OLD FAMILIAR HAUNT AND NOT HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT THAT y BEING UNDER THE sora!” Hat Tips Again HERE has been another cbullition of local anger over the hat-check extortion as organized to levy tribute on the patrons of the restaurants and hotels in New York. It is not the tip that makes people angry, but the com- mercialization of the tip. If they give a they want to give it of their own volition, and to have it go where it is given, It makes them feel foolish to have traps set and baited for their tips and to have someone unknown come around after hours and take the tips out of the traps and carry them off. What’s the use of feeding such a gouge as that? The tippers don’t know, but they notice that, whereas to give a hat tip used to increase their self respect, under the present system it diminishes it. They used to feel that they were liberal, or at least appre- ciative, when they tipped the hat- boy. Now they feel that they are suckers. Too bad, yet it is doubtless inevita- ble that as soon as tips anywhere be- come a reliable source of income, the employer’s hand will go down into the servant’s pocket and take his lion’s share. The simple way then to break up the hat-tip aggression is never to give the hat-boy anything. comicbooks -com