Life, 1921-09-01 · page 13 of 35
Life — September 1, 1921 — page 13: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a satirical dramatic piece written by Oliver Herford for the 1921 Greenwich Village Follies. It reimagines the classic fairy tale of Bluebeard (a nobleman who murdered successive wives) as a stage production with various comic characters: Playingcard, Lady Nicotine, the Sisters Drama, Lovingcup, Bright Sunday, Art, and Piety. The satire appears to mock theatrical conventions and perhaps contemporary social types through these personified abstractions and stock characters. The ornate Brenda masks (theatrical design) suggest this is avant-garde theater. Without more context about the 1921 Follies or specific cultural references, the exact satirical targets remain unclear, though the tone is lighthearted and absurdist rather than politically pointed.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Bluebeard’s Last Wife By OLIVER HERFORD These verses, with the Benda masks, are to be acted in the Greenwich Village Follies for 1921 Hi Bluebeard of this Drama, you - nr js ; Comes Lovingcup T must know, Ay ” \ , Lived «a distant country long ago. * _ eS} Gay Lovingcup! As joyful as the morn, ; he slimeful deeds by that base wretch Lp Wt Crowned with a wreath of Rye, and committed hANG ears ING oy ’ Barleycorn In modern times would never be per- NN, HAN Aé And Purple Grapes from France, and in mirted. ; \ her lap Look «: his mask, the beard alone would " \ The Hops that put Milwaukee on the show AS map. How rates happiness and worships S Cy inn ( Poor Lovingcup! How brief was her w y romance! With Sigotry and Blue Laws through \ f While her brave brothers fought for her and through SLI, we in France His soul is steeped; that's why his beard g Swift to her doom the hapless maiden is blue. - went, Fight maids in turn did Bluebeard take to 7 Drowned in a tank of half of one per wife, cent. Each a Joy, and since her aim in life Was to e life more joyous, he got rid o’ her; Comes Bright Sunday He was as one might say a_ self-made 2 widower. Of Bluebeard’s wives Bright Sunday was the y best, Comes Playingcard 4, Giver of recreation, joy and rest. Unhappily for her one Sabbath day First comes the sprightly damsel Playingcard She chanced upon her mandolin to play. In fantastic spotted like the pard She did not live to play another note; With {leart and Club and Diamond and Spade; He pitched her, lute and all, into the moat. Light!) she comes, poor unsuspecting maid She docs not see how Bluebeard on the sly Comes Art Plucks a Blue Hair, his carving-knife to try. T me of Playingcard was brightening life And now comes lovely Art: watch Bluebeard For that she dies—bring on another wife! fascinate her. F She little dreams he’s plotting to assassinate Comes Lady Nicotine { her. Whether in marble cold or pigments bright, Art’s an abomination in his sight. Her noblest work, the human form divine, To Bluebeard is a thing accursed like Wine. One lightning flash of steel and Art has met The fate of Lovingcup and Cigarette. Now comes the pensive Lady Nicotine, The s-cond victim of that monster’s spleen; With \lagic Leaf she charms dull Care away— Turkish, Egyptian and Virginia. Swish! through the air grim Bluebeard’s sabre flashes: Swect Cigarette is dead! Peace to her ashes! Comes Piety Come the Sisters Drama But who is this with mild and gentle air Next ‘o their death the sisters Drama come, : And meekly folded hands as if in Prayer? One cloquent of speech, the other dumb; i The last of Bluebeard’s luckless wives is she: One bright with song and dance and colors He worships her, her name is Piety. . glad, When she unmasks, in place of mask will be The other dark in films fantastic clad. Zs The loathsome features of Hypocrisy; And now grim Bluebeard’s doom approaches fast, One Bridal Kiss—that Kiss will be his last! As each in turn her entertainment shows Purp! with rage the beard of Bluebeard glows. He cx lls the Censor, Bonehead, to his aid Who chops their heads off with his ruthless <f biade, 2 Comes Beath comicbooks.com |