Life, 1919-12-18 · page 17 of 56
Life — December 18, 1919 — page 17: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**Top Cartoon:** A social comedy about bridge playing. A man criticizes a woman player for using her wrong hand and poor scoring, while another man deflates his complaint by noting he shouldn't act as if women playing bridge is unprecedented. The joke mocks male condescension toward women in games—suggesting the critic's complaints are exaggerated or hypocritical. **Bottom Section:** Faux opera announcements satirizing contemporary politics and ethnic stereotypes. The "Prospectus" mock-advertises absurd operatic productions: an Italian opera by Gabriele d'Annunzio sponsored by the "Spaghetti Benders" (ethnic caricature), a ballet supposedly composed by Senator Johnson, and "The Bolsheviki" sung in Esperanto—mocking post-WWI anti-communist anxiety and contemporary ethnic anxieties. The satire targets both highbrow cultural pretension and contemporary political tensions.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“THAT WOMAN PLAYS OUT OF THE WRONG HAND ALL THE TIME, AND DOESN'T KNOW HOW TO KEEP SCOR “YOU TALK AS IF SHE WERE THE FIRST WOMAN YOU HAD EVER PLAYED BRIDGE WITH.” TWO WEEKS BEFORE CHRISTMAS Prospectus THe Metropolitan Grand Opera Company announces its twelfth under the able direction of Mr. © Gett*-C#s*zz* and the following attractions L'ltaliano in Fiume, opera bouffe in one daring act, by Gabriele d’ An- nunzio, Sung entirely in Italian, this opera will be given for and under the auspices of the Pan-lItalian Brother- hood of Spaghetti Benders and the American Relief Committee for the Restoration of Misplaced Allied Terri- tory. Shantung, ballet extraordinaire by Senator Johnson of the United States Congress. Further developments later, The Bolsheviki, a leery drama in innumerable ardly acts, after the poetic conception of Leon Trotzky, will be sung in Esperanto. Special per- formance de luxe for steel workers and railroad employees Genera ANNOUNCEMENTS All Metropolitan artists have ful- comicbooks.com