Life, 1915-10-28 · page 42 of 52
Life — October 28, 1915 — page 42: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page combines **advertising** (left) and **literary criticism** (right). The **left side** advertises Geraldine Farrar's autobiography, serializing in *The Ladies' Home Journal*. Farrar was a famous American opera singer and early film star. The ad emphasizes her "American Girl" identity and upcoming movie appearance, appealing to millions of fans. The **right side** reviews Willa Cather's novel *The Song of the Lark*—which notably features a protagonist inspired by Farrar herself. The rhymed review (by Arthur Guiterman) summarizes the plot: a Scandinavian-American girl from Colorado becomes an opera singer, has an affair with a married brewer, and eventually marries him. Guiterman critiques that her artistic success made her "egoistic," preferring her earlier, more charming self. The juxtaposition is notable: Farrar's self-promoting autobiography runs alongside a fictional account (based on her life) that questions whether ambition and achievement enhance or diminish a woman's character.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“Whatever Else I May be, First, Last, and All the Time, I am an American Girl.’ — Geraldine Farrar. Geraldine Farrar’s Story of Her Own Career It is the intensely human story of a modern American girl’s conquest of the world in the most exacting of all the arts—a story of romance and ad- venture, peopled with the famous men and women of America and Europetoday. Millions will see Miss Farrar this autumn on the moving- picture screen; other millions have heard her golden voice from the records; vast audiences have been swayed by her magic personality in those great operatic réles that she has made her own. Everyone will want to read her story now for the first time told with perfect frankness by herself. It begins in THE LADIES’ HOME JOURNAL FOR NOVEMBER On Sale Everywhere—15 Cents The Curtis Publishing Company - Independence Square - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Rhymed Reviews The Song of the Lark (By Willa Sibert Cather, Houghton Mifflin Co.) Where Colorado sunsets fade On strangely - colored sand - forma- tions, * A little Scandinavian maid Grew up with secret aspirations. A girl to make the heart rejoice Was Thea, child of Kronborg, preacher ; Yet no one dreamed she had a voice But poor old Wunsch, her music teacher. To town she went (Chicago, IIL), By laudable ambition fired, And strove to warble, chant and trill Until she grew immensely tired. She needed rest like anything; And so in Mexico she tarried With Ottenburg, the Brewer King; Alas, the naughty man was married! Afar she fled, and learned her art So well in cities trans-Atlantic That when she sang a Wagner part Her New York audience went frantic. No operatic voice, they said, Was ever grander, richer, truer. And when his crazy wife was dead She married Ottenburg, the Brewer. It seemed to me, I must confess, That Thea, growing more artistic, Declined in charm and loveliness; Achievement made her egoistic. I like the pages best that tell Of things that proved to be her molders, Her childhood friends, and what befell Among the desert sands and bowlders. Arthur Guiterman. THE GYROSCOPE JAG PROTECTOR comicbooks.com