Life, 1923-02-22 · page 13 of 36
Life — February 22, 1923 — page 13: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The main cartoon shows a courtroom scene where a prosecuting attorney questions a witness about a Polish wedding. The witness claims it would be "hard to say" who attended—a humorous evasion suggesting the wedding was either chaotic or the witness was intoxicated. Below are satirical advice columns mocking Broadway theater producers. The jokes suggest that theatrical producers become wealthy through exploitative schemes: buying cheap real estate near Broadway, subletting plots to investors, and renting the resulting theater at inflated prices. The advice columns sardonically recommend either producing Shakespeare plays or abandoning theater entirely for other business ventures—implying Broadway production is less about art than financial manipulation. The page reflects early 20th-century American attitudes toward both ethnic communities (Polish immigrants) and entertainment industry practices.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Prosecuting Attorney: You say you attended this Polish wedding? Who were present? Witness: That would be hard to say. Engage Ethel Barrymore. Never mind the play. ke ‘ngage John Barrymore. ‘ever mind the play. **k* a pair of walnut twin beds, with cane head- and ards. Buy two pink silk puffs. “all in Avery Hopwood. wae wn a plot of ground on or near Broadway. sive a ground lease to A. iy sublease to B, and probably does. “ “Cc « “« “ “« «Dp, « “ “ « “EE « “ “ en builds a theatre on the plot, with plaster of wood carvings, and rents the theatre at a minimum 000 a week. the end of 21 years, you take back the lease and ieatre building, if there is anything left of it after ars. der this arrangement, everybody makes a fortune t the poor fish who does the work—the producer of ys. He has to make $3,000 a week for salaries, $1,000 idvertising and office expenses, $1,000 to get back his production costs, and $4,000 for rent, at the very least. Then the public wonders why tickets cost so much. xee Don't produce Shakespeare. eke Produce Shakespeare. *e* Rewrite “Rip Van Winkle” and call it “Lightnin’.” eee Rewrite “Cinderella” and call it anything you please. eK Write a play in which the man suspected of commit- ting the murder in Act I will turn out, at 10:49 p. m., to have been the man who did it. We feel sure the novelty will appeal to a jaded public. *e* Accept a poetic drama. Do not produce it. **e* Go into some other business. W. P. E. The Cure for Wanderlust Jones: Going abroad again this spring, old man? Situ: No! I’ve sworn off drinking for a year. comicbooks.com