Life, 1923-08-02 · page 16 of 40
Life — August 2, 1923 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two distinct sections: **Upper text**: A satirical article by Montague Glass criticizing both the film industry's treatment of authors and the poor quality of restaurant dining in American hotels. Glass mocks the pretentious French names ("*cuisine soignée*") applied to mediocre food, listing absurdly fancy dish titles that disguise unpalatable reality. The author argues authors shouldn't trust their work to film manufacturers without proper contracts. **Cartoon**: An illustration by Edward Penfield depicts a domestic scene where a woman asks a man, "Why is it, Mr. Sapp, that you never married?" His response—"Oh! I'm just smart, I guess"—suggests satirical commentary on the bachelor lifestyle, implying marriage is something only foolish men would choose. Both sections employ humor to critique social institutions and masculine pretense.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
LIFE Broadcastings By Montague Glass OMEHOW or another, the recent Moving Pic- ture Convention held under the joint aus- pices of the Authors’ League and Miss Fannie Hurst, leaves one with the impression that the operation of a well-known author selling a manuscript to a moving picture manufacturer has points of resemblance to the usual operation for append: s. That is to say, the patient— I mean the author—is strapped down to a stretcher, an ether cone is pressed over his mouth and nose, and after anesthesia is complete, an appropriate incision is made in the region of his bank account and twenty thousand dollars is inserted. Certainly no writer of reputation, free from ether and in his full senses, would entrust his delicate works of art to a moving picture manufacturer, when the entire writ- ing world has record notice, as the lawyers say, that a story written for limited circulation must of necessity be altered if it is to be exhibited to an audience of thirty million people. It is, therefore, charitable to believe that neither Miss Fannie Hurst nor Mr. Basil King ever con- sciously negotiated with a moving picture manufacturer for the sale of a story, and since at the convention they so roundly denounced moving picture manufacturers, it necessarily follows that they will never sell another story to a moving picture manufacturer for any considera- tion, which of course leaves the entire moving picture in- dustry static and gasping for air. “WHY IS IT, M “on! 1 Pustic dining has never been worse in these United States, and this applies particularly to metropolitan hotels with established reputations for what the French call cuisine soignée. Atrocities are committed in the name of soup which an outraged customer could avenge only by making the chef swallow the stuff himself. Consommé at forty-five to fifty-five cents a small cup possesses no flavor as far as any human being can detect, except that the other day, in one of the hotels de luxe, the chicken con- sommé had just the faintest suggestion of finnan haddie. As for the thick soups, they come under the head of Bill Posters’ Supplies; 7. ¢., they possess tremendous viscosity but are otherwise colorless, tasteless, and odorless. Sizing also masquerades as sauce in the following plats: Sole Marguéry Old Fashioned Chicken Pot Pie Stipreme of Guinea Hen Sous Cloche Asparagus Hollandaise and All dishes with unfamiliar French names Thus for a trifle of nineteen dollars or so, any two peo- ple can rise from the table of the average de luxe hotel in New York, feeling as satisfied as a couple of twenty- four-sheet circus posters. ee * No pouitics more foreign than the Nebraska State Elec- tions interests the citizens of the State of Kansas. It is therefore perfectly clear why President Harding wasted (Continued on page 35) SAPP, THAT YOU JUST SMART, comicbooks.com