Life, 1926-05-06 · page 31 of 52
Life — May 6, 1926 — page 31: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes the hypocrisy of 1920s theatrical censorship through two pieces: **The cartoon** depicts what appears to be a domestic scene where a woman scolds a man about changing from "ankle-length heavies to knee-length mediums"—a joke about women's hemlines, which were becoming shorter and more scandalous in the 1920s. The humor lies in the woman's concern about propriety at "this time of year." **The poem "Lines on Witnessing a Classical Revival"** (by Newman Levy) mocks the double standard: theater producers must avoid anything risqué or "improper," yet the same shocking content is deemed perfectly acceptable if presented as a "classic revival"—a classical play by a dead author. The poem's final couplet captures the absurdity: "The Slightly Obscene is quite proper and clean / If the play is a recognized classic." The satire targets 1920s moral gatekeepers (protective of "prominent judges'" children) who enforce strict theatrical censorship while paradoxically allowing identical content under the veneer of classical legitimacy. "Flappers" (modern young women) could attend these revivals "immune from all shock" simply because society granted classical works cultural sanctification.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“AND IT ISN'T AS THOUGH HE HADN’T BEEN WARNED! 1 TOLD HIM ONLY YESTERDAY THAT A BODY WAS A FOOL TO CHANGE FROM THEIR ANKLE-LENGTH HEAVIES TO THEIR KNEE-LENGTH MEDIUMS AT THIS TIME OF YEAR.” Lines on Witnessing a Classical Revival O* the entrepreneur who produces a play Though the classical dramas are strong to the taste May be chastely and modestly frisky, For the Sweet-and-Refined is the keynote to-day, And the racy and risqué and risky. He should carefully shun all allusion to Vice Lest his patrons he carelessly smudges, For the Frank-and-Outspoken’s not pleasant or nice For the offspring of prominent judges. Yet we needn’t have any misgiving, For a play is quite virtuous, proper and chaste If the author who wrote it’s not living. So let playwrights beware who are writing these days Lest they soil their immaculate pages, For licentiousness only is proper in plays With the sanctified sanction of ages. But it néver can hurt if he dabbles in dirt In a play of the era Jurassic. He can feel pretty sure that it’s fragrant and pure For the Slightly Obscene is quite proper and clean If the play is a recognized classic. Tf they call it a Classic Revival. Then the flappers may flock quite immune from all shock, While the managers cheer their arrival. Newman Levy.