Life, 1923-06-14 · page 8 of 44
Life — June 14, 1923 — page 8: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes early Hollywood's filmmaking practices through a dialogue between a "Magnate" (studio executive) and a "Director." The satire mocks the industry's approach to adapting stories for cinema: executives demand expensive, spectacular productions while dismissing concerns about script quality or narrative coherence. Key targets include: - **Runaway production costs** (building sets, hiring extras at inflated wages) - **Star power over substance** (casting Charlie Murray for $8,000/week) - **Studio indifference to storytelling** ("Who the hell cares about the story?") - **Nepotism and cost-cutting** (hiring cheap outside talent like "Smith") The bottom cartoon mocks modern children's entertainment overstimulation, showing multiple family members simultaneously seeking amusement—a comment on entertainment culture's fragmentation and excess.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
LIFE The Hollywood Husband (to his erring bride): cinema! Go and Movie Maxims Speecu is silver; silence is Goldwyn, He laughs best who laughs Lasky. Give them an Ince and they'll take a smile. Coogan live as cheaply as one. This is the Minter of our discontent. DeMille of the gods grinds slowly, but he grinds ex- ceedingly fine. Talmadge not in mournful numbers. What’s the Matter with the Movies? AGNATE (putting down telephone): Well, Blinks says he'll sell us the movie rights to that story for $51,000. Director: Fine! We'll star Charlie Hurray in it, huh? We can get him for $8,000 a week. Macnate: Swell! Don’t spare any expense to make this one a wow! We'll need some special music, of course. Director: We can get Broadfield to do it for $5,000. Macnate: Sign him up. Now about the sets. I want something'll knock these New York birds cuckoo. Sink the ship if you got to, but knock ’em. Director: Leave it to me. How much I got to work with? Macnate: A million if you want. Ain't I telling you spare no expense? Director: Swell! We'll build a duplicate of the Woolworth Building and dynamite it in the big strike scene, Macnate: Great! How ’bout extras? Director: I can get about 13,000 for five dollars a day a head. Macnate: Get ’em and pay ’em seven-fifty. ‘That'll pep ‘em up. That’s all, ain’t it? Director: All except the continuity. Blinks’ stuff won't shoot good. Macnate: Who can we get? Director: Well, Smith’ll come over from Swell- films for $35 a week. They're paying him $27. Macnate: Now listen, Joe. When I say take the lid off I mean for the real stuff like scenery and things Who the hell cares about the story ? Offer this bird $30 and if he balks do it yourself. I ain't going broke on no scenario hacks. OF course Baron Ireland. Att reasonable means having failed to get the Allies out of Constantinople the Turks are now threat- ening to enforce Prohibition. Plenty of Entertainment for the Modern Child Grandfather, Grandmother, Father. Mother, Big Sister and Big Brother (simultaneously): Want to blow my match out? comicbooks.com