Life, 1923-01-25 · page 11 of 36
Life — January 25, 1923 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains a theatrical dialogue (appears to be from Shakespeare's *Othello*) with editorial commentary mocking various characters' objections and interpretations. The accompanying illustration shows a bear walking upright on hind legs. The satire targets pompous literary critics and senators who misinterpret or complain about the play's content. Characters like "Ponderous" and "Primm" represent prudish objectors who find the drama morally offensive, while "Droowsy" and "Smuthound" represent other types of obtuse readers. The bear illustration likely symbolizes the bestial or ridiculous nature of these critics' complaints—suggesting their objections are crude and unintelligent. Life magazine is ridiculing both overly moralistic censors and pompous theatrical gatekeepers who fail to appreciate Shakespeare's sophisticated themes.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
LIFE - 9 Ponperous (reluctantly glancing at a first folio): This fustian thing, “Othello”— Primm: I mislike the title. Butt: Sir, ‘tis a simple thing, a man’s name. Primm: Aye, but many a wicked thought hides ‘neath fair seeming. I like it not. Drowsy: Out! (With a cry of joy, Wyse sinks the blue pencil to the hilt.) Primm: Sirrah, your maid deceiveth her good father. “Tis a naughty wench forsooth—I am a man with three daughters. Drow Out! (Further vivisection by Wyse results in the elimination of Desdemona.) PonpERous: This tedious tirade to the Senators— think’st thou the groundlings will hear it patiently? They will not understand it. Why, even I can make nor head nor tail on’t. Drowsy: Out!!! (The mutilated manuscript writhes in agony.) Vrimm: S'death. Here’s a bedroom and a bed. (Sudden revival of interest and loud outcries by the Board. Direct action by Ponderous prevents the manuscript from being torn to pieces.) € SmutTHounpb: Bah!! He merely chokes his wife in’t. (The disappointed Knights relapse into apathy.) Primm: A bed!—'tis foul. Why even I—and mark you, I’m a pious man with mind as clean as tooth of hound—I cannot bear to look upon such things lest evil fancies creep into my brain. Drowsy: Out!!! (The clinking of tankards drowns the moaning of the victim as the last act is ruthlessly anputated.) Ponperous: Then there's a villain—one Iago—he lies and plays the rogue. Hast thought of our apprentices? He will contaminate them. Wyse: Replace him with a shepherdess or two. Attend me at my home—I’ll show thee how. Bitt: A shepherdess ? Wyse: Aye, and let them sing and dance and be glad, giad, GLav, GLAD, GLAD!!!! Butt: Good gentlemen, I prithee hear me. Virtue is ne'er so fair as when vice-contrasted. There’s warning in my drama—even if it be not spoon meat for babes. Look you, sirs—you’ve left me no play. Wyse: Poor churl, I do pity thee; anon I will instruct thee so thou mayst write plays that will endure. (Further objections of Bill are smothered by four husky beef-eaters who bind and gag him.) PonpeErous: Now sirrah, ere you go, heed my advice. Cease writing foolish fancies and make thyself a solid man—like Drowsy here, or Primm. Man—there be Hides and Flax to buy and sell—why wilt thou traffic in words and ink? Mend thy ways, ere it is too late, and thou mayst yet become as one of us; then when thou diest, thou wilt be reverenced. But if thy years be wasted in this silly scribbling, once thou art dead thou wilt be forgotten. (Bill is cast into the Outer Darkness and the K.’s of the B. P. tap another keg.) M.S. “Do you know where my brother went?” “Yes—he just went down.” Time Unlimited Barr: How do you, with all your interests, manage to gain such knowledge of contemporaneous _litera- ture? Carr: I always read while I wait for my wife to dress, comicbooks.com