Life, 1921-04-28 · page 11 of 36
Life — April 28, 1921 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satirical page mocks early cinema archetypes through caricatured characters and their descriptions. "The Policeman" depicts a stereotypical film cop—brutish, incompetent, and corrupt ("Trace of Cus-tard Pie"). The satire suggests cinema police are laughably inept compared to real law enforcement. "The Scenario Writer" caricatures screenwriters as pretentious hacks who plagiarize Shakespeare ("Shakespeare is dead, so *he* should worry") and substitute sensationalism for substance—creating melodramatic "Bed-Room Scenes" with cheap tricks like "flax-en Curls on Scotland's Queen" to replace genuine storytelling. The bottom comic strip shows domestic chaos: lost collar buttons, bread mishaps, and missing cuff buttons—mundane household troubles presented as cinema fodder. The satire critiques how early films elevated trivial domestic irritations into overwrought drama.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
fhe Cinema Primer Verses by Robert E. Sherwood Drawings by John Held, Jr. ——: rma rn eon fhe Policeman This state-ly Min-ion of the Law Wears sev’-ral Foot-Prints on his Jaw, And on his Dome he bears a Brand Where tru-ant Bricks have chanced to Land, While, in the Cor-ner of his Eye You'll find a Trace of Cus-tard Pie; In short, this Of-fic-er (so-called) Has been, 'twould seem, Se-vere-ly Mauled. I used to long (long since, of course) To be a Mem-ber of the Force, But | al-lowed this Scheme to Drop When first I viewed a Key-stone Cop. Al-though this Fel-low does not look Like Cap-tain Kidd or Cap-tain Hook, He is a Pi-rate (we are told) Who's just as Crool, and just as Bold As all those fa-mous Buc-can-eers Who roamed about in form-er Years. He takes “Macbeth”, chan-ges the Name To ‘‘Pas-sion’s Lure”’, or “ Hearts A-Flame”; Writes in a brand new Bed-Room Scene, Puts flax-en Curls on Scot-land’s Queen, So that the Part will fit Mae Mur-ray. (Shakespeare is dead, so fe should wor-ry). “TELL THAT BAKER I FOUND THIS COLLAR “MAMA SAID SHE FOUND THIS COLLAR “THANK MAMA, SONNY, AND ASK HER IF BUTTON IN THE BREAD — IP IT EVER HAPPENS AGAIN, I'LL TRADE ELSEWHERE!” BUTTON IN THE BREAD THIS MORNIN’.” SHE'LL BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR A PAIR OF CUFF BUTTONS.” comicbooks.com