Life, 1919-08-28 · page 28 of 40
Life — August 28, 1919 — page 28: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This two-part satirical piece compares decadent behavior across centuries. The first sketch mocks effeminate Roman dandies (Flavius and Lucullus)—vain, perfumed youths who romanticize primitive strength while remaining pampered and artificial. Their performative rebellion (talking of violence while decorated with pink bows) is hollow posturing. The second sketch ("The Parlor Bolshevik," set in 1919 Greenwich Village) parallels this: Jerome and Cuthbert are radical intellectuals spouting anti-capitalist, anti-establishment rhetoric while remaining comfortable and dependent (asking dad for $25). Their revolutionary talk about rejecting "artificiality" and "hypocrisy" rings equally false. The satire's point: radical posturing and pseudo-rebellious attitudes recur across history among privileged youth who lack genuine conviction. Both groups talk revolution while benefiting from the systems they claim to despise. Life magazine mocks pretentious pseudo-intellectuals and their shallow activism.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
~LEFE- Degenerates Repeat Themselves The Roman Dandy, A. D. 19 LAC The Roman Forum, Tue Persons: Flavius and Lucullus, two rising mem- bers of the Roman smart set. Fuavius (a very thin youth with effeminate airs and a prominent Adam's apple. His toga is decorated with pink bows and strongly perfumed): By Jupiter, this is a tiresome world. All is artifici feel. within me the surgings of elementary passions. This morning, Lucullus, I almost kicked one of Caesar's legion- aries on the shins! Li us (a knock-kneed individual with a bitter, cyni- cal smile, long, wavy hair and purple buskins): Well spoken, my brave lad! I long for the simple, full-blooded days of ancient Rome, when strong men killed their hun- dreds aad the barbarians walked with their beards tied to the axles of our conquering chariots. Fiavius: Let us throw off the shackles which bind us! Let us become fr Let us renounce wealth and soft linen, and know again the sweet savor of strength and violence! Lucutnus: Look you! At the Circus Maximus there is one Grammarchus, a mighty gladiator. I have met him. He is a great, hairy brute with enormous muscles. You and 1, vius, will eek him out this very day and feel his huge biceps!) Thus we will know the thrill of primitive strength and feel an Well spoken, my brother! answering surge of power in our own veins Fuavivs: By Juno, Lucullus! Thou hast said a mouth- ful! Ho, for the Circus Maximus! (Excunt Lucullus and Flavius in an aura of perfumer The Parlor Bolshevik, A.D. 1019 Prace: .1 Greenwich Village living-room, with cigarette butts on the rug. Tue Persons: Jerome and Cuthbert, tico emancipated writers of free pie “ets eo MY SON, YOU REALLY MUST LEARN TO PRACTICE ECONOMY “RIGHT YOU ARE, DAD, CAN YOU LET ME HAVE ABOUT TWENTY-FIVE DOLLARS TO PRACTICE WITH?” THE FORMER ACE TWENTY YEARS AFTER “DADDY, YOU WAS AN AVIATOR ONCE, WASN'T you?” Jerome (a slender young man with a thirty-two-inch chest, a flowing necktie and spots on his vest) old chap, there must be an end of all this 1) with which we are surrounded. There is no longer any such thing as Truth! What editor would dare print the Truth? Bah! The day must come when we shall revert to the dignified simplicity of our forefathers. Wealth and hypocrisy and soft living must go! Cutusert (a plump individual with a small bald spot. large pouches under his eyes and a slight lisp): Jerome, I sicken at the blindness of those who will not see the By George, artificiality truth, Not much longer will people endure to be trampled under foot by the capitalists, those slave-drivers of the comicbooks.comil