Life, 1919-02-27 · page 22 of 38
Life — February 27, 1919 — page 22: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page reviews Winter Garden Theatre productions in New York during Lent season. The cartoons illustrate theatrical entertainment aimed at the tired businessman—the primary audience for these shows. The left illustration depicts a dancer performing acrobatic moves, embodying the "lights, music, laughter and pretty girls" that constitute the Winter Garden's appeal. The right illustration shows soldiers, likely from a production like "Toby's Bow" or "The County Chairman," referencing contemporary military themes. The text criticizes these entertainments as deliberately anti-intellectual, designed to stun the senses rather than engage the mind. The reviewer notes that tired businessmen seek escapism and sensory stimulation rather than serious drama. References to Al Jolson and other performers anchor these as specific 1910s-era productions. The tone is gently mocking—the satire targets both the vapid entertainment industry and the audience's willingness to be entertained without thinking.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
In Mid-Lent | of entertainment keep peor to it through twenty-five coming productions, good and bad. niust t urdea as an in- ion. The Winter Gar- den appeals to the prim stit instincts for amusement which are ributed principally to the genus now cenerally ke ness man he tired tired ness) man neces- sarily a bad lot, He's reall the oman in street When he’s through with his dinner, whatever the dinner | he various may be t food factories, called hotels = dl rest. ants, supply t he wants to be rtained. Therefore he seeks a show OE Me URE, LEPE REND that will 1 on his brains, some place where there are hter and pretty girls in “The County Chairm Such impersonations are worth These t at the Winter Garden, and plenty of remembering je type the ability to recognize it are We. He on intellectuality. He resents being likely soon to disappear in these United States of Bolshe- hored—which means thinking. Just to see and hear and have nerate New York, “ Toby's al of charm, The atmosphere of good Alice Av le Butler, Mr. Charles A. \ that's all he asks. Jv" he cert those senses stunned In “ Monte Cris y gets all he asks for, In breeding contril > way the piece is an improvement ual Winter G: ; , Stevenson and Mr, Wright Kramer is refreshing in these rough- | show because it has something of a plot. In this respect : ne | Serta t Hise he h nd m de ul background for the artistic tigesemibles 18e: Emnice aslianbra pe Bt Load seriousness of Mr, Norman Trevor and the rather depressing | which, despite their frivo! a slight a intelli bass note of Doris Rankir The usual fun of Me Jolson and 1 woe This serio-comedy of Southern life ought by its intrinsic ind vul Jeville we suppl dl the Watson Sisters. en interest al aby ay 1 its fine performance to attract those who complain Dooleys present their really Audrey Maple is a nice les Px that the theatre in New York ru with no sense of refinement, s only to draw audiences athletic and acting do Mr. Ch. ed Cristo, all together, “ Monte C jase who go will have to rima-donna, cell gets away with Julgent te the lurid first act. which they will forgive as nded to heighten the etfect of those that follow. int with the sort of entertainment the Winter Garden sO, vide. wal meee in semi-an. cur present \s You Like It” fairly well rendered akespeare Playhouse” does with Elsie Mackay 1s a youthfully charmir Mr. Allen hor an extremely jovial Duke, and Mr. Henry Herbert as one of the most lackadaisi history ’s pleasant to hear ‘ood lines of nd ebullient Rosal: ‘OBY’S BOW" has in it a lot of sweetness. Mr. George Marion's picture of the old colored re teous bow was reserved for only the family iner, whose 1 Touchstones known to he served, de to go down in reputation with Mr. Sweatnam’s colored man Any organization that dares to present Shakespeare in this comicbooks.com