Life, 1914-02-19 · page 12 of 40
Life — February 19, 1914 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page is **not a political cartoon**. It's a **program or plot summary** for "Lay Boheem," an opera in four reels with French text by Henri Malinger and music by Poorsheeni. The page documents the opera's four scenes across different locations (an attic, a quarter street, a kibosch exterior, and an attic again). It lists the characters—Rudolph, Marcel, Schaunard, Colline, Mimi, and Musette—and provides scene-by-scene descriptions of the plot involving these bohemian characters. At the bottom, it's credited to Quincy Kilby. This appears to be **Life magazine's** humorous take on or parody of Puccini's "La Bohème," using satirical stage directions and commentary rather than straightforward synopsis.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
a ARSE: Lay Boheem An Opera in Four Reels by Poorsheeni, With the Original French Text of Henri Malinger Rudolph, a tonedeaf tenor. Marcel, a blithering baritone. Schaunard, a dilapidated ditto. Colline, a bonehead bass. Mimi, a squawky soprano. Musette, a calloused contralto. Reew I. CENE—The attic of the Four Muskeeters, Rudolph being dramatic, Marcel chromatic, Schaunard asth- matic, Colline dogmatic, and the air operatic. Rudolph and Marcel are discovered hard at work, the former look- ing out of the window, the latter doing nothing. Rupoten (with a smile that shows gold fillings-and a voice that shows hardware): Entre nous tout ensemble, lése majesté. (Marcel waves her paintbrush.) Marcet (with mesalliance): Arc de triomphe double entendre, haut sauterne. Rupotrn (with a shiver de freeze): Hors du combat champs elysées, couleur de rose. (He attempts to make @ fire out of a play he has written. Not being a good play, it does not draw.) Scuaunaxp (entering with Colline and producing a Latin quarter to show that he has money): Embonpoint esprit de corps, vive le roi. Couuine (producing rabbits from a hat and vegetables from an empty bottle): Pince nez, dumas pére hotel de ville. (All go out but Rudolph, who pleads arrondissement. Hearing a rap he goes to the door and finds Mimi, who is wrapping a scarf about her neck.) Mini: S'il vous plait, apropos des bottles, aux armes citoyens. (She coughs.) Rupotrn (with embrasure) : plume, c'est a dire. ; Mint (with lingerie. This should have been printed “lingeringly”): Comme il faut dieu et mon droit. (Coughs again. Hers is a barky réle.) Rupotrx (rising to his fete): Omelette soufflée sans peur et sans reproche. (Mimi drops her key and stands on it while they look for it.) Mit (still on the key): Amour propre pomme de terre, bois de boulogne. Rupotpx (off the key): Piéce de resistance nom de Pot-pourri, Jeu d’esprit, Par exemple, Vis-a-vis. Mut (with a smile of insouciance. This word has sev- eral meanings. In this case it means business): Qu’est ce que c'est que ¢a pas du tout quelque chose. (She gets off the key and picks it up.) They go out together singing: “Quand cest apple-blossom temps dans Normandie”. Ree Il. Scene—A Square in the Quarter, so called because you can get a square meal there for a quarter. The place is crowded with grisettes, soubrettes, cabarets and cascarets. Enter the Four Muskeeters and Mimi, who wears a new hat that is a bird. Rupotrx (tenderloinly) : Bon jour, noblesse oblige, vive la bagatelle. Mit (with diablerie. This is a Gascon word meaning neuritis): Soupe de bouillon cyrano de bergerac, porte saint martin. (They sit at a table. He drinks a glass of majolica and she an entente cordial.) Marcet (absinthe-mindedly): Champ de mars mise-en- scéne, en déshabille. (Musette enters in a pere la chaise.) Musette (archly. They call her an archer because she toxophilite): Chateaux en espagne maitre d’hétel rue de rivoli, Marcet (with a soupcon of francness): mounet sully louis phillippe. Musette (with bouillabaisse. This refers to her narsty disposition): Eau de vie féte champétre, laissez faire. (Marcel calls a cochon and they ride away.) Coquelin ainé Reex III. Scene—The exterior of a kibosh in the enfer-ior part of the cité. Musette is within singing chiffon-temps chansons. Mint (entering in a cabriolet, which means pitiful condition): Chambre des deputés, sauve qui peut fromage debris. Manrcet (coming out of the kibosh dressed in a négligé passepartout): Renaissance ambigu opera comique. Rupotpx (appearing at the window with a look of hauteur, which shows that he has been in hot water): Jardin des plantes folies bergéres, rouget de lisle. Miatr (falling on the pavement and breaking her en- gagement): Bocuf a la mode, fait accompli venus de milo. (Two chevaliers d’industrie enter and carry her off to the Castile.) Reex IV. Scene—The attic again. The Four Muskeeters discov- ered. Mimi and Musette enter, clad simply in Charlotte russes. Mimi sings: Affaire du coeur. Arriére pensée. Dernier ressort, Absinthe frappée. She dies. Musette weeps and spoils her make-up, so that she and Marcel have to make up all over again. LE BOUT. Quincy Kilby. Ccomicbooks.com