Life, 1925-10-01 · page 7 of 36
Life — October 1, 1925 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The main illustration, titled "The Gay Nineties: The Turkish-Corner Craze," depicts an ornately draped bedroom scene with a couple. The caption explains this represents "dust-catchers of the early nineties" that were "supposed to be terribly romantic" and exemplified "Turkish atrocities"—satirizing the 1890s fad for elaborate, heavily draped "Turkish corner" home décor that accumulated dust while claiming exotic romantic appeal. Below, "Bedtime Story" mocks a movie comedian whose films drew massive audiences. Critics ignored him until he achieved success, then demanded he pursue "serious" art. The joke: twenty million people will see his next picture regardless of critical approval. The final item about automobiles suggests car ownership was becoming a status symbol.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
, THE GAY NINETIES THE TURKISH-CORNER CRAZE. THESE ARTISTIC DUST-CATCHERS OF THE EARLY NINETIES WERKE SUPPOSED TO BE TERRIBLY ROMANTIC AND ARE PROBABLY WHAT IS MEANT BY THE PHRASE—"“TURKISH ATROCITIES.” Bedtime Story The Importance of Good Criticism O ‘CE there was a movie actor who made comic pictures. ery time he made a picture at least twenty million people went to see it. At last he came to the notice of the highbrow critics. ey didn’t go to look at him but they said: “Horrible! People should not waste their time on stuff like that!" Twenty million people went to see the comedian’s next cflort. Then the highbrow critics, having seen the forest so long, decided to look at the trees. So they all went to see the comedian on the screen and they all proclaimed: “Marvel- ous! This man is a great artist! Everybody should go to see him!" Twenty million people went to sce the comedian’s next picture. Bertram Bloch. AUTOMOBILES are a public menace. Ask the man who doesn’t own one. comicbooks.com