Life, 1923-06-14 · page 27 of 44
Life — June 14, 1923 — page 27: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page is a self-satirizing essay by Life's drama critics, humorously confessing their critical failures. The piece mocks their own poor judgment by listing prestigious plays they dismissed or attacked that became major successes—including "Abie's Irish Rose," "Seventh Heaven," and "Chauve-Souris." The satire turns on itself: the critics admit they were confidently wrong. They then joke that "Abie's Irish Rose" management, undeterred by their scorn, keeps sending them gifts (pencils, joke books, even a birthday cake) as if rewarding enemies. The critics sarcastically propose other theatrical managements pay them to publicly denounce plays—essentially admitting their reviews are unreliable. The final section lists genuinely satisfying theatrical moments from the season's plays, suggesting their actual taste, despite their critical missteps. It's self-aware satire on critical pretension and the gap between expert judgment and popular success.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The Inevitable HIS being the time of year when dramatic edi- tors, in a frenzy for something with which to fill their space, start selecting the ten best perform- ances of the season, we might as well take advantage of the public’s disinclination to read anything at all during June, and put down what those who know us best call our “‘reactions.” The only trouble with making an arbitrary selection of “the best” anything is that the judge must start with a fairly confident feeling that his judgment is authoritative and that he knows something about the subject at hand. Unfortunately, we have no such con- fidence. (Pause to wait for the cries of protest from our admirer.) HE reason for this sudden spasm of modesty may be found in a brief survey of the plays which we have frowned on during the past season. They number among them some of the year’s biggest suc- cesses. A glance at our scrap-book (a depressing pro- cedure at best) shows the following honor roll of pro- ductions fortunate enough to have come under the nourishing heat of our bitterest scorn: “Abie’s Irish Rose” (now the dean-of our current drama). “Whispering Wires” (runner-up for dean). “So This Is London!” “The Old Soak.” “The Fool.” “Seventh Heaven.” “Give and Take.” “Chauve-Souris” (only recently departed after a triumphant run of over a year and now setting Paris by les oreilles). Some of these we dismissed with merely a scornful word, confident that by the time our review appeared in print they would be gone. Others, which we felt might gain a foothold unless we took steps to prevent it, we devoted considerable space to withering. And, in addition to the initial castigation in each case, we have continued the withering process each week in our powerful Confidential Guide. SS5OO5S HE management of “Abie’s Irish Rose” is so grateful to us for our persistent opposition that scarcely a week goes by but that we receive some lit- tle bijou from them. Perhaps it is a set of pencils with our name stamped on them. Perhaps a little book of Irish-Jewish jokes. A few weeks ago, on the occasion of the play’s first birthday, a messenger came bearing a large cake with our name in green on the frosting. There seems to be nothing that these people won't do for a real friend. SP? ole E mention this in the hope that other manage- ments will see the light. For a modest weekly cash contribution we will guarantee to print in red in each issue of the Confidential Guide a bitter denuncia- tion of any play which is anxious to get along. We might even be induced to stand personally at the door of the theatre and warn people against it. That, how- ever, would cost the management real money, as our time is worth something. az ex URELY from the point of view of a theatre-goer (which, at least, no one can deny that we are) we list herewith the most satisfactory moments for us personally during the past season (in no particular order) : When the graphophone starts playing in the last scene of “Rain.” The second-act curtain in “The Torch Bearers.” Waiting for the invading robots in “R. U. R.” Dallas Welford’s and Dwight Frye’s burglary scene in “The Plot Thickens.” Ring Lardner’s “The Trijet of Greva” in “The 49’ers” as done by Denman Maley, Sidney Toler and Roland Young. The war scene in “The World We Live In.” Glenn Hunter in the last act of “Merton of the Movies.” Leslie Howard’s scene with Ern in “The Romantic Age.” Haidee Wright’s speech in the last act of “Will Shakespeare.” Many moments in “Why Not?” The trial scene in “The Devil's Disciple” Dudley Digges and Margaret Wycherly in the sec- ond scene of “The Adding Machine.” Bits by Phyllis Povah, Robert Ames and Willard Robertson in “Icebound.” The young Nugents in the wrench scene in “Kempy.” Next week we will run a list of those moments which we forgot to mention above, and which will have been called to our attention by incensed readers. We are sorry now that we ever started to make any list at all. Robert C. Benchley. (Confidential Guide will be found on page 35.) comicbooks.com