Life, 1915-12-09 · page 11 of 48
Life — December 9, 1915 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This cartoon satirizes the transition from silent film to talking pictures. The illustration shows two vaudeville-style performers pointing at each other in exaggerated poses, laden with theatrical props and equipment—representing the old stage traditions. The accompanying text explains that moving pictures eliminated the need for trained actors who could use their voices properly. As stages closed, performers lost their primary training ground for proper diction and speech. The joke critiques how silent film actors never learned to *talk* professionally, creating a problem once sound arrived in cinema. The figure labeled "What He Says About His Wife" provides comic relief through boastful claims about his spouse—a stock comedic device of the era. The cartoon mocks the unpreparedness of silent-era performers for the sound revolution.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE TWO DROMIOS Progress THE moving pictures having at length totally eliminated the regular drama, it no longer became necessary for actors to know how to use their voices. As the stage was the only place where the average person could learn how to talk properly, the art of talking properly, which, even under these conditions, was not much of an art, dicd out altogether. Thus people used gesticulation to convey what ideas they had. In the course of time men became monkeys once more, but experienced considerable incon- venience, as all the trees had been cut down. There were, however, the ruins of many tall buildings still left, upon the roofs of which they did the best they could. What He Says About His Wife ) his neighbor: You will find my wife, sir, extremely fair and just in all matters, I assure you: To his butler: Your mistress will direct you in every- thing. She is a perfect housekeeper To his partner: can I help that? To his doctor: To his sister: I never saw a woman who could make a dollar go so far. To his best friend: Yes, old man, all women, as you say, are alike, and I guess my wife is no worse than the rest of them. Yes, my wife is extravagant, but how You know her better than T do. She is a wonderful manager—is Adele. comicbooks.com