Life, 1921-08-25 · page 22 of 34
Life — August 25, 1921 — page 22: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page from *Life* magazine satirizes the emerging film industry's practices and pretensions. "The Atmosphere" mocks the use of extras—hired actors who perform background scenes in ballroom shots. The verse ridicules their mediocre dancing and poorly-fitted rented formal wear, suggesting Hollywood's careless approach to authenticity creates an artificial, unconvincing visual quality. "The Society Matron" targets casting practices by depicting a washed-up burlesque performer now playing wealthy Newport socialites in films. The satire suggests Hollywood cynically recycles discredited entertainers and relies on superficial props (coronets, lorgnettes) rather than genuine talent or understanding of upper-class behavior to convince audiences. The comic strip below provides comic relief about auto theft—likely contemporary social commentary given the era's car-stealing crime wave. Overall, the page critiques early cinema's shoddy production values, lazy casting, and fakery.
📄 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 the Atmosphere The At-mos-phere, dear Rea-der, means The back-ground in the Ball-room Scenes, The Ring-ers in, that is to say, Who do their Act-ing by the Day; They dance the Two-step (slight-ly swayed) The while a Waltz is be-ing played; They’re al-so fault-less-ly At-tired In Full Dress Suits that they have Hired, And Watch Fobs (that they ne-ver use) And plea-ted Shirts and cloth topped Shoes ;— The Mo-vies some-times make me Sick, Be-cause the At-mos-phere is thick. - “Oh, officer! Look over there! Auto thieves are trying to steal my car. “Wait till they get the motor going. Drawings by John Held, Jr. Lhe SocietyMatron She used to fro-lic, Years a-go, As Po-ny in a Bur-lesque Show, Un-til she grew so ve-ry Stout That she could scarce-ly get A-bout. So now she works on Mo-vie Jobs Por-tray-ing high-toned New-port Snobs. Wear-ing a cost-ly Cor-o-net, Swing-ing, with Ease, a mean Lor-gnette, And gos-sip-ing, the fat oid Vul-ture, The while she Re-gis-ters her Cul-ture; In fact, one well might Say of her— She has the So-cial Re-gis-ter. “Then nab them. “Thanks, boys! I couldn't start the darn thing my- comicbooks.com