Life, 1924-03-13 · page 3 of 40
Life — March 13, 1924 — page 3: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two distinct elements: **Left side:** A poem titled "The Mystery" by B.R. satirizing early Hollywood filmmaking. It mocks how screenwriters and producers create expensive, elaborate pictures with minimal artistic merit—spending "a million dollars" on spectacle while abandoning logic and good taste. The repeated refrain "What's the Matter with the Movies?" reflects contemporary criticism of the film industry's perceived commercialism and creative bankruptcy during the silent era. **Right side:** A General Cord tire advertisement featuring an illustration of a woman with a deflated tire alongside the headline "Ride on the Tire That Runs with Less Air." The ad emphasizes durability and practicality—appealing to motorists concerned about tire reliability. The juxtaposition is purely coincidental product placement rather than intentional satire.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The Mystery Tuey take a first-class story by a man who knows his job, A tale that makes you laugh and cry and thrill and choke and sob, And they give it to a bozo with a solid knob— der “What's the Matter with the Movies?” Producer and Director tear and rend it scene by scene, - And the Star demands more changes ii H AT R U N S \W | TH knowing naught of what they mean, And they wonder “What's the Matter stan LESS AIR ~ —~ They cry aloud for “Action,” which they seek to bring about By adding fires and shipwrecks and by throwing logic out, And they plan an Aztec temple and an ancient pagan rout And they wonder “What's the Matt with the Movies? They spend a million dollars (fully hali of it is waste) For they have a heap of money which they substitute for taste And they do a Super-Feature with all And they wonder “What's the Matt with the Movies?” And when the author's story has been trampled cold and flat Leaving nothing but the title—and quit often changing that They call in the Exhibitors to have a turn at bat— And they wonder “What's the Matter with the Movies?” They spend All Kinds of Money, and they take All Kinds of Pains, Then marvel that the public’s old en thusiasm wanes For they've planned and schemed and red—usi everything but And they wonder “What's the Matter with the Movies?” BB Just a Little Bit of Heaven (The Ce ite Picture of Ireland) SuAMROCKS i shillel ahs colleens and Mike Bejabers the Blarney Stone ... John MeCe no snakes pigs in the liv room ... policemen .. . clay pipes Chauncey Olcott t lepre- chauns ... harps . . . hods . . . George Bernard Shaw ballads sheen —goes a long way to make friends Guinn March 17. hell wid F ” Zrin Go BUILT IN AKRON, OHIO, BY THE GENERAL TIRE AND RUBBER CO and they call it I-re-land! comicbooks.com