Life, 1924-01-10 · page 25 of 44
Life — January 10, 1924 — page 25: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page is a **theater guide** from Life magazine listing current Broadway shows with brief reviews. The illustration shows **Estelle Winwood** in "Spring Cleaning." The content reflects 1920s theater culture and social attitudes. Notable entries include: - **"Rain"** and **"Tarnish"** — dramas dealing with female sexuality and "fallen women," reflecting Jazz Age anxieties about morality - **"Saint Joan"** — Shaw's recent play featuring women as serious dramatic subjects - **"Runnin' Wild"** — explicitly labeled a "First-class Negro show," reflecting segregated entertainment era - Multiple shows about marriage, divorce, and "problem plays" addressing modern domestic life The tone is urbane and cosmopolitan. References to shows being "not for Grandma" and dismissive comments ("Pretty low") reveal class-conscious gatekeeping about which entertainments were respectable. The guide itself demonstrates Life's role: satirical yet also functioning as cultural arbiter for educated, theater-going audiences in 1920s New York.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Owing to the time it takes to print Lire, readers should rify from the daily newspapers the continuance of the attractions at the theatres mentioned. More or Less Serious The Blue Bird. Fifty-Ninth St.—You re member the Blue Bird, the bird that’s for Happiness? Chains. Playhouse—Miss Helen Gahagan as the girl with a child but no husband. A well-handled problem play. Cyrano de Bergerac. National — Walter Hampden in a revival of solid gold theatrical ware The Dancers. Ambassador — Many old stage devices given a chance to prove their worth, thanks to Richard Bennett and a good cast. Hurricane. Frolic—Reviewed in this issue. In the Next Room. Vanderbilt—Good murder mystery with tricky killings. The Lady. Empire—Mary Nash in excel lent buck-eye drama of virtue and its so- called reward. Laugh, Clown, Laugh! Belasco — The clown who loves and loses, with Lionel Bar- rymore at his best as the clown. The Lullaby. Knickerboc ks Well, it seems there was this girl who went wrong. Florence Reed as the gitl. Outward Bound. Ritz—To be reviewed later, Rain. Mexine Elliott's—After all, you can’t beat it. Saint Joan. Garrick—Shaw’s latest, with Winifred Lenihan in the title réle. To be reviewed later. Seventh Heaven. Booth—Imitation drama and what we seem to be alone in thinking imitation acting. Anyway, it is very suc- cessful. The Shame Woman. Comedy—Sin in the mountains, resembling sin anywhere else in all important details. Sun-Up. Princess—A vivid presentation of the backwoods reaction to the war. Tarnish. Belmont—The customary topic handled in an unusually satisfactory manner White Cargo. Daly's—The pace that kills below the equator. Comedy and Things Like That Abie’s Irish Rose. Republic—Another year and this will have run almost three years. The Alarm Clock. Thirty-Ninth St—To be reviewed next week. Aren't We All? Goicty—Cyril Maude in very nice fooling. The Changelings. Henry Miller's—Good polite comedy with an all-star cast. Chicken Feed. Little—Home stuff. For All of Us. Forty-Ninth St—William Hodge very cheerful. Meet the Wife. Klaw—All right, hut not much more. Mary Boland is the wile. Neighbors. Forty-Eighth St—To be re- viewed later. The Nervous Wreck. Som H. Harris— Otto Kruger and June Walker in a loud but amusing farce. The Other Rose. Morosco—Reviewed in this issue. The Potters. Plymouth—One of the, best home comedies since “The First Year.” Spring Cleaning. Elting-—An_ excellent cast making a smart show smarter. Not for Grandma, however. The Swan. Cort—Eva Le Gallienne in about as good as there is in town—even better This Fine Pretty World. Neighborhood— To be reviewed later. The Whole Town's Talking. Bijou — Grant Mitchell in a farce which improves as it goes along. he Wild Westcotts. Fraz: viewed next week. Eye and Ear Entertainment Artists and Models. Shubert—Pretty low. Greenwich Village Follies. Winter Garden —One of the best. icitle Jessie James. Longacre—One song it. Little Miss Bluebeard. Bordoni. C'est ca? Mary Jane McKane, Imperisi—To be re viewed next week, ME Battling Butter, Seitwyn—One of those. c—To be re Lyceum—Irene ESTELLE WINWOOD IN Music Box Revue. Music Bor—A lot to look at, anyway. One Kiss. Fulton—Thin , French. Poppy. Afollo—Madge Kennedy and W. c. Pledds—with music. The Rise of Rosie O'Reilly. Liberty—To be reviewed next week. Runnin’ Wild, Colonial!—First-class Negro show. Stepping Stones. Gi his daughter. The rest don't matter Topics of 1923, Broodhurst—Delysia in a revue that is better than you'd expect it to be, Fred Stone and ‘Wildflower, Casino—Y. but it stands hearing ag: Ziegfeld Follies. N feld Follies. 1 know the music, ¢ Amsterdam—Zieg. “SPRING CLEANING”