Life, 1925-07-09 · page 26 of 42
Life — July 9, 1925 — page 26: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This 1920s satirical page mocks Hollywood's film industry through several interconnected jokes: **"A Grin Fairy Tale"** presents a fictional radio broadcast where actress Nita Gertis refuses last-minute to perform, forcing substitution of "Tiny, the Girl Basso." The satire targets Nita's false modesty—she claims not to possess "national ability" yet expects admirers to waste time on her film "Sizzling Hearts," which she dismisses as poorly written and directed. **The cartoons below** include a European tourist's humorous small-town boasting, a "trained-flea act" joke about theatrical understudies, and a real-estate agent's exaggeration about a bungalow being "just a stone's throw from the station"—implying it's actually very far away. The dominant left illustration shows an improbably tall house with multiple staircases descending a cliff, marked "LOTS & LOTS FOR SALE"—visualizing the absurd property claim. Overall, the page satirizes Hollywood vanity, theatrical pretension, and deceptive advertising common to 1920s American consumer culture.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
- LIFE: A Grin Fairy Tale TAND by a few moments, my great _ tional ability that Nita admits she does unseen audience, while we give Nita not —possess...Good-by, Nita... All Gerita, the movie star, the air....My ready, Tiny? Now, then, fans, you are goodness, this is indeed upsetting. I due for a real treat—“Rocked in the am afraid we shall have to substitute Cradle of the Deep,” by the girl who Tiny, the Girl Basso, instead, for Nita knocked E flat in the first round. has absolutely refused to face the micro- Tracy Hammond Lewis. phone at the last minute. Really, you never did sce such a mod- 'HE race for the summer coat of tan est person as Nita, “Why,” she asked, is on. May the best man wince! “should I take up the time of intelligent people by talking to them for fifteen minutes just be- cause some misguided di- rector thinks I am pretty enough to star in’ the films? You know as well as I do that I haven't a thought in my head.” Neither of us is able \ to supply the answer to \ / ( the question, so if you | / will please cling to your car-phones for a few scc- we \ onds while Tiny finds her Second European Tourist: 1 BEG PARDON, *BUT If JUST music, we shall let this ovexiearp'yoU SAY YOU WERE FROM THE FINEST LITTLE famous girl singer do her oxy Town Gop EVER MADE. SHAKE! I’M FROM WHEES- bit instead.... PORT, O00, Yes, Nita — I'll tell ’om...Nita has just asked me, before Explained leaving the studio, to tell her many ad- Maxacer: What is your act? mirers that they will be wasting their Vavuvevitte Actor: I carry a time if they see her latest picture, trained-flea act. “Sizzling Hearts.” She wishes us to Manacer: What does this dog do? assure you that it is neither the Actor: He carries the understudies. scenario writer's fault nor the director's, as both did all that could be expected ‘AT would Old Home Week be of them. The trouble is that the film without the phrase, “knee-high to calls for a delicate touch and an emo- a grasshopper”? Pew vie i: TT THE REAL-ESTATE AGENT SAID THAT THE BUNGALOW WAS “JUST A STONE’S THROW FROM THE STATION.” comicbooks.com