Life, 1927-05-12 · page 24 of 43
Life — May 12, 1927 — page 24: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a **theater review page** from Life magazine, not primarily a political cartoon. The central image shows silhouetted figures in what appears to be a comedic or theatrical pose, with a caption about getting dressed ("How soon will you be ready, dearie?"). The page's main content is theatrical reviews of Broadway shows and entertainment venues. The satire here is **gentle social commentary** embedded in brief reviews—mocking pretentious theater, sentimental plots, and formulaic entertainment rather than political figures. References include Broadway theaters (Belasco, Fulton, etc.), performers (Holbrook Blinn, Jane Cowl), and shows with period titles like "The Road to Rome" and "Saturday's Children." The humor derives from **Life's sardonic dismissals of mediocre productions**—calling them "ridiculously" thrilling or noting when plots are recycled because audiences "will like again" what they've seen before. This represents early 20th-century middlebrow cultural criticism packaged as entertainment journalism.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Owing to the time it takes to print Live, readers should verify from the daily newspapers the continuance of the attractions at the theatres mentioned. ‘ The Mystery Ship. Comedy—Possibly a good . F More or Less Serious ina to thie Bit ee Rand towel 2% Comedy and Things Like That The Barker. Biltmore—Bac ji nt Stands it ts practically noth at shai ua tke Ushio for segaral pessoanl seod Sierra's Spanish Art Theatre. Forrest—To be pidiblete trish Rose. Republic— And 20 the great, one sort or another. A reviewed next week. ridge porridge? nea neeet omens Huston heading the cast. rhe Silver Cot. An oe ely ea Peprondway. Broadhurst—It seems rai Caponsacchi. Ham pden's—Browning’ RE Cpsculat ion s nee ove to keep on saying that this is a good ingrand the Book""made into a romantic drama, TB@ Spider. For St—Now there's a everyone knows it by now. for Walter Hampden and lots of people in Goreld Master, Sorta Bech—A merciless ex- Chicago. Music Bor—A very necessary costume. At Cher nalhecle acd tc ‘Xing on our national mentals, delivered Crime. Times Square— s Re 3 the and e y high good humor and worth seeing. oft-hearted crook who plans one of the most R v The Comic. Masgue—Reviewed in this i exciting robberies in town. The show ‘t much suerets The Constant Wife. Marine Elliott’s—Ty but that one scene is. bs. ao Sex raising its ParfYmore showing that there ts such a thin The Field God. Greenwich Village—Moun- y , 1 accompaniment /#@ht comedy. bie again. Worthy tat not so y Nestor St The Devil ia the Cheese. Plymouth—Pane om” by the sa The Thief. Riis—Reviewed in this issue, tagy which has apparently made a go of it Wall Street. Hudsow—Reviewed in this issue. 4, the Gossipy Sex. Mansfeld—Reviewed re—One of the The Wooden Kimono. Fulton—O; eC Hiseste, Powers in the thrillers which are so ridicul frightened to Trumps. Morosco—Prench c hich doesn't matter much one way or ian Martin and Frank Morgan head the cast Her Cardboard Lover. Fm pire—Jeanne Bagel not so impressive in a fair Prench pide, in whit Leslie Howard shines. Love Is Like That. Cort—Just moderate ent tainment, and that is giving it the breaks, The Piay’s the Thing. enry Miller's—Re- fined salacity, nicely done by Holbrook Bli 1 a good cast. The Road to Rome. Playhouse—Jane C the charming Roman matron who saved her c fr Hannibal at practically no cost to her History as it should be told. Saturday's Children. Booth—A quietly lightful comedy, with tears, dealing with yo folks trying to’ make both ends meet. Ru Gordon plays the young wife The Second in. Guild—Pine Alfred Lunt, Lynn Pontanne, Margalo and Earle Larimore in one of the seasor comedies. pare Seventh Heart. Maysair—To be reviewed later. Sinner. Klaw—Claiborne Poster an Dinehart in a play dealing with adultery it is. Tommy. Eltin, -town love among the younger set. All right Two Girls Wanted. —Littlh—No harm done at What Anne Brought Home. {Vallack's—Very milk Eye and Ear Entertainment Cherry Blossoms. Cosmopolitan —The cust ary Japanese operetta. The Circus Princess. Winter Garden—To be reviewed next week. Countess Maritza. Jo! from Vienna. The Desert Song. son's best, with Vivienne Pddie Hit the Deck. Krlasco—To be reviewed next week. Honeymoon Lane. Kuickerbocker—Based the successful theory that what a lot of peor have liked before they will like again. Ed Dowling is the beneficiary. Lady Do. Liberty—Dancing, ete., in the cus tomary combination. jaire’s Affairs. Majestic—Quite an eve ning’s entertainment. what with Lester Allen, Charlotte Greenwood and Ted Lewis. Lucky. New Amsterdam tion of Walter Cat allagher, Mary Eaton and Paul Whiteman’s orchestra. ‘A Night in Spain. Forty-Fourth St—To be re- viewed next week. Oh, Kay! — Imperial—Gertrude Lawrer Victot Moore and Oscar Shaw still” pleas ple. oe egay-Ann. Vanderbili—Something distinc different, with very nice music and Helen Queen High. | Ambassador—Luella C Prank McIntyre and Charles Ruggles in a, svc cessful musical version of “A Pair of Sixes.” The Ramblers. Loric—Some very funny stall by Clark and McCullough. Rio Rita. Ziegfeld—A beautiful production “ il te 7? with a splendid ballet and some comedy by Ada ‘How soon ‘will you be ready, dearie i May, Robert Woolsey and Bert Whecler “Just as soon as I’ve put on my Coty’s and panties.” Sanita: Apollo Gecene White ta the soot (Noses These little frocks, used for bounding about in rooms and things, Yours Truly. Shuberi—Another dressy produc ii iz tion, with Leon Errol in good form and Marior come in all sizes except yours.) Harris singing to our complete satisfaction. comicbooks.com