Life, 1920-09-09 · page 2 of 44
Life — September 9, 1920 — page 2: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is not a political cartoon but rather a **literary/advertising feature** for the Estey Organ Company. The page presents "The Dance of Death," a classic macabre tale (referencing Saint-Saëns' symphonic poem "Danse Macabre"). The narrative describes Death personified as a skeleton fiddler who, at midnight, summons other skeletons to dance. The accompanying illustrations show Death as a skeletal figure with violin—a gothic, supernatural imagery typical of 19th-century romanticism. The article frames this spooky story as suitable entertainment for "friends sitting late around the big fire, telling ghost stories," then advertises how the Estey Organ can dramatically perform this piece through its "well selected library of orchestral music." **This is essentially an advertisement disguised as entertainment content.**
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Werty by Lite Pubitwning Company ‘at 17 West Sist Street, New Yoru. N Angual Subscriptios, Five Doi Vol. 70, No. 1973, September 9, 1929. Ratered as Second Class Matter June @. 1) NAY. Entered as Second Class Copreight in Eagiand : Eritu® Posen the Post Ofice dan, Ne, <e Deparment, Cag shone. = THE DANCE OF DEATH A Merry Ghost Story “Zig-et-zig-et-zig, la Mort en cadence, Frappant un tombe avec son talon; La Mort, a Minuit, joue un air de danse, z t-zig, sur son violon.” T Is MIDNIGHT. Twelve solemn strokes from the old bell tower that keeps watch over the churchyard at its feet proclaim this fact and give signal for a strange scene. Death with his violin tucked snugly beneath his bony chin, beats time with his heel ona mossy tombstone, “zig-a-zig-a-zig”, and plays a merry dance tune. One by one the skeletons rise from their resting places and join the dance. Woven in the mazes of the waltz one hears the melancholy sighing of the night wind, the branches of the lindens rubbing against one another, and the rattle and scuffle of bony feet over the lichened stones. Suddenly the cock crows and sends the jocular, gruesome crew scurrying back to their graves, while Death, still fiddling, vanishes over the nearest hill. Saint-Saens’ “Dance of Death” is one of the stories in the Estey Musical Library, made avail- able in all its picturesque imagery by the Estey Residence Pipe Organ. In the arrangement for the Estey Organ the weird suggestion of this symphonic poem is given a power and interest that make it an unusual evening's entertainment for a group of friends sitting late around the big fire, telling ghost stories. Just let the Estey Organ tell this old tale by Saint-Saéns, and you will get some intimation of the never failing delight, wonder, thrill that organ music always yields, of the vast resource found in a well selected library of orchestral music. Tue Estey Orcan Company, Brattleboro, Vermont; Studios in New York, 11 West 49th Street; Philadelphia, 1701 Walnut Street; Chicago, Lyon & Healy; Boston, 120 Boylston Street ; Los Angeles, 633 South Hill Street; London, 12 Rathbone Place, Oxford Street. comicbooks.