Life, 1924-01-03 · page 24 of 36
Life — January 3, 1924 — page 24: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains theater criticism by Montague Glass discussing John Ervine's plays and dramatic principles. The single cartoon depicts a suburban property owner using a wind machine (likely a movie prop) to keep snow off his lawn—a humorous commentary on the absurdity of over-mechanization in everyday domestic life. The main text critiques Ervine's approach to tragedy, arguing that while American theater audiences attend matinee performances (attended "almost exclusively by women"), they lack the courage to witness genuine tragedy. Glass notes Ervine champions off-stage tragedy rather than direct spectacle. The column also includes brief anecdotes: one about a bootlegger prosecuted for selling absinthe, another about a suspicious murder case in Los Angeles where a woman was accused of killing her former husband. The overall tone satirizes both theatrical conventions and sensationalist newspaper coverage of crime, suggesting editors are overly cautious about what they report regarding murderers.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Broadcastings By Montague Glass N “Pastiche and Prejudice clergyman who “Saint. Paul says—and 1 tunity to see the progress of his disease, denials from both the alleged mur- ght be murderers, but ec for three solid acts John is derers. They m by the lord Harry, they were respec m lel him , Well, St has been betrayed by the mortgagee of all surpris beea seated dead center, while people dere and it w ¢ news to him (a) that his hter ted an if they pr st the newspa home, (>) that his son has shot the action if ee and (¢c) that the murderer In times like gs because it has become has been hanged for it. It will be ob: £ hn Ervine says—and 1 partly hi him—that the theatre when vice is re agree with as so much more xoing to the ¢ ded pop that Mr. Ervine makes some scrious than crime, newspapers must sion to the sensibilities of his he exceedingly careful of what they say effeminate in that women have n serve to face the spectacle once herefore the stage WU ce if not to art of play- about murderers all this acute tragedy Or perhaps Mr A‘ ASTILIAN who wishes to in speak the with idiomatic correctness (perfect pr cipally with comedy, farce ting by havin ree happen off ical revues. Where I as a champion of tra age with I ion would de to consult De Inglés Es- par published by cerned in the ness of the theatre the will agree wit rest of his di In America, it is the tum. the Sonora News men who have not Company of Mexico City. For example, or the coura — least the inclinat there is ques- ral sépar? This the ; to a Spaniard is statements nothing more or less successes than the — phonetic farce and - equivalent of drama, the Where do we take specially if upper?” If L were t will do a Pas OE : splendid be > United States, I the Wednesday “spl” think [should take Saturday — matinees. as, -—slessons C These are attended, — gine MovIE PROP MAN WHO LIVES IN THE SUBURBS UTILIZES HIS WIND ative danci ‘om Imost ex MACHINE TO KEEP HIS LAWN FREE OF SNOW Sara omen uncan Schoo! ther hand, lose the theatre, doesn't dare to be Interpretative Dancing, or w as he can. name i 1 of trying to to be pretty conclusive indie speak English, I would waltz that the feminine infly i You will remember the bootlegger avoiding lockjaw and perhaps making tre, as exerte r who righteously ned to sell his myself better understood. box office client a hottle of athe upon the oo t comedy wgree with 1 that it was against the law to MARRIED couple and their 1 Mr. Ervine that he. In Los Angeles the tle daughter were spending principally with day, a man and his wife were sant week-end in the f g to the accused of a particularly atrocious some friends who had just j vine’s opin murder committed in the course of from Sweden, The little girl had been { by self-intere Mr. Ervine wrote cessful burglary. One of the — playing violently and before luncheon “John Ferguson,” in which the prin- newspapers hinted that the lady, who she complained of a headache. Her tif he had M's was immediately taken a stroke of was captured practically red-hand anxious parents asked the he fore the rise of had not been divorced from a former a clinical thermometer, and the chi nd to hi real improvement throughout the play, fellow murderer was th acter suff cipal cl paralysis some time the curtain. His ce 1 shows nx liusband and that ber mar temperate efore biga with a mall Swedish thermometer, and the audience has a splendid oppor: mous. This brought forth indignant Continued on page comicbooks.com