Life, 1924-04-10 · page 25 of 36
Life — April 10, 1924 — page 25: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**"My Husband Says"** satirizes pretentious theater criticism. A husband condescendingly dismisses a Broadway play, criticizing its trivial aesthetics (a woman's hairpin) and shallow appeal to "bourgeois" New Yorkers, then declares he'll only return for "Way Down East"—a melodrama featuring literal physical peril (a woman thrown into snow). The joke: his claim to sophistication masks preference for sensationalism over substance. **The City Editor/Critic exchange** mocks journalistic laziness: when asked what write-up he's giving the show, the critic replies "same old stuff," and the editor accuses him of "panning the author for writing the same old stuff"—circular reasoning exposing how critics mechanically recycle complaints. **"A Large Commission"** (cartoon): Mr. Rabbit pitches Mr. Possum for a bulk Easter hat order for his numerous kiddies. The humor relies on animal characters and the absurdist image of rabbits needing hats, likely satirizing either commercial negotiations or post-war economic adjustments, though specific context remains unclear.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
— Wh 40 y My Husband Says “THAT the setting of the play we sav last night was 1 . but he heard only the lines from the 1 us She said a play might please the bourgeois taste of New Yorkers for fen years, but if it survived in n for twe weeks it was a real test of its merit and s| hoped the blonde wouldn't lose the little pin from the back of her coiffure or the entire structure would collapse and no. sane s would wear sh woman with such u and the chiropodist ¢ 1 the afternoon and such pleasant sights made her frightfully nervous It was really quite rude of my hushand, but he turned and looked at her and she said: “What an extremely disagreeable- looking person !” She then t of the i tablets I heard one brig id her hush not to wait for the conc to run nee get two tive to sudden shocks. ht line from the stage, but my husband pirin 1 she was so s said he was much too preoccupied to explain it to me and he wouldn't go to the theatre a: until “"Way Down East” came back, He said he wanted to see a woman — City Editor: WHAT KIND OF A WRITE-UP ARE YOU GIVIN rown out into the snow L ache Simpson THE SHOW Critic: SAME oun STUFY AIN need fear nothing radical from its Labor WHAT'S THAT Government if it includes any bricklayers PANNING THE AUTHOR FOR WRITING THE SAM TUF A LARGE COMMISSION Mr. Rabbit: "MORNING, MR. POSSUM, ME AND THE KIDDIES ALL NEED NEW EASTER HATS AND I THOUGHT MAYBE YOU'D MAKE A SPECIAL RATE AND TAKE US AS A JOD LOT. comicbooks.com