Life, 1925-07-30 · page 8 of 36
Life — July 30, 1925 — page 8: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This cartoon compares Shakespeare and Will Hays, likely the film industry's censorship chief. Shakespeare is depicted as a skeletal anatomical figure—suggesting his classical, enduring importance but also his "death" or irrelevance. Hays appears as a small, demonic figure operating a movie camera, implying he controls modern entertainment. The satire suggests that Hays's censorship standards now govern American culture more powerfully than Shakespeare's literary legacy. The contrast in size emphasizes how a bureaucratic censor has replaced traditional artistic authority. This reflects 1920s anxieties about corporate control of entertainment and the loss of cultural autonomy to industry gatekeepers.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
UDGING from the past experience of those who have bucked up against ENNINGS Bryan, Joun T. s is slated to be our next Presi- JL “What he calls fundamentalism,” says G. B. Suaw, speaking of our own Mr. Bryan, “I call infantilism.” A million infants in the United States will bitterly resent this unkind reflection on their intelligence. SHAKESPEARE ARE + Sil Nearly sixty thousand Jews have settled in Palestine in the last four years, and we expect to hear that some of the old residents there have petitioned for stricter immigration laws. L Radio stations will broadcast musical numbers to cheer MacMittan in the Arctic. Suggested selection: “Freeze a jolly good fellow!” L The Associated Press reports the posi- tion of a new comet as “right ascension, 0 hours 23 minutes 28 seconds; declina- tion, 0 degrees 41 minutes; daily mo- tion, 1 minute 48 seconds cast; north, 14 minutes.” What they mean is, “just over to the left of that big shiny one.” aL The young Chinese seem to be hostile to foreigners in their country. Such hase ingratitude, after the way we've welcomed Chinese to this country ! JL Things look pretty dark for China. They've reached the conference stage. aL A new company is taking over the tele- phone system in Spain. Persons having castles there had better get ready for an increase in long-distance toll rates. LL More automobiles were shipped out of this country during last May than in any preceding month, which is good news for the pedestrian. THE TWO WILLS OF THE SHOW BUSINESS A will devising $500,000 was written on the hem of a petticoat. That a use has been discovered for a petticoat will delight the manufacturers whose ma- chines have been idle for three or four years. L That will-petticoat was evidently an heirloom. Our Own News Reel South Boston firemen battle mammot) blaze in awful South Boston blizza South Boston, Massachusetts! We read that the total amount of prop- erty destroyed by fire in the United States last year was equivalent to more than half the annual interest on the national debt. Thus the prize for the world’s most useless statistic remains in America for another year, aL Prohibition agents recently seized 48,- 000 bottles of beer, but it was probably just a sample shipment. LL A bull-fight was postponed in Mexico City recently and thirteen persons were seriously injured in the resultant riot- ing. Among those who enjoyed a hearty laugh over this occurrence was the bull. a Dr. Cové, “Yes, We Have No Ba- nanas,” Mah Jong, and the Crossword Puzzle Craze have had to move over on the back seat to make room for Dayton, Tenn. JL The religious war between the modern- ists and fundamentalists has resulted, as usual, in an evén greater Sunday morn- ing congestion at the first tee. comicbooks.com