Life, 1927-09-29 · page 9 of 38
Life — September 29, 1927 — page 9: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains theatrical sketches and comedy pieces satirizing early 20th-century American culture. The **"Rehearsal"** section mocks theater productions, depicting backstage chaos where actors and directors struggle with a poorly-written script. The dialogue lampoons overwrought dramatic productions and incompetent playwrights. The illustration shows a **drug store scene** where a customer asks the clerk for cough medicine, but the clerk recommends cigarettes instead—satirizing dubious pharmaceutical practices and the casual promotion of tobacco as medicinal. The **"Co-ed"** poem playfully describes ambitious college girls, while **"Putout: Editor to Office Boy"** humorously traces how a joke spreads through social circles, implying the joke is so tired it's been told everywhere. The page represents *Life* magazine's trademark satirical approach to American social customs and popular entertainment.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Rehearsal QWHADRACH: gotta revamp this ac’. rible, this ac’ is. An’ tha gonna be here Wensy mati a pep it up an’ make it dangeruss, sce! Mesitacn: He ain't comin’ Wensy matnay, he’s comin’ Wensy night. Belteshazzar tole me himself. Suapracu: Yeah, what Belte Lissen, we gotta zs somewhere; this fellas, we It's ter- King’s We look shazzar knows. get summore ga ac’ is as bare as a chorus girl's back! Anepneco: Harl one—put it in the ac’. Suapracn: They won't stan’ for no rough stuff; ‘siz a family house Come on, you two flops, help me push tha out....Less go Gee, I wish we had th’ orchessra tapracnt, Mesiacit aNp Anep- NEGO: Here-we-are-three-funny-souls Walking-round-upon-tha-coals Mesuacu: Gee, thass rotten A Hot Time in ght" instead. old—orchessra ain't got it. . We can put some more flares aroun’. An’ a coupla big ones there by the furnace door... make it look dangeruss, see. Anepyeco: Hey, whadda ya think we are, pheenixes? Fya don't look , thass a good furnace Lissen, less sing, the Ole Town To-1 Suapracn: Too yo) “TD TRIED TO DATE THAT DAME UP FOR THE SIF'D COME HERE TO STUDY, NOT TO FOOL out somebody's “GOSH—AREN'T SOME gonna get burnt sround here! Sitapracn: dangeruss, ain't it? Anepneco: Yea Well, it’s gotta look ah, an’ it’s gonna ve dangeruss! Suapracn: Drug Store Patron: My THRONT’s IN TER- RIDLE SHAPE. GIVE MEDICINE. Drug Clerk: we poN’T CARRY 17, SIR. WE HAVE SOME VERY PINE ME SOME Goop covert But CIGARETTES. Well, we gotta do This ac’ is terrible! Mesuacn: Lissen, can't we lift that gag the Lion Ac’ used —you know, the one where tha Christian says, “This will just make martyrs worse !” Anepneco: Terrible! Mesuacu: Say, if good, sappose ya give us some gags yaself. Anrpneco: 1 din't’ say I knew no gags. I juss said that one was terrible. Suapracu: Lissen, Abe, don't like tha gags an’ won't stand for no more flares —vyar a great help! Anepnrcc All right, all right. Go ahead and put flares all over tha furnace—I_ jussoon t burnt as lissen ta yar gags! Suapracn: Gee, this terrible! An’ we ain't helpin’ i --Cummon over ta tha a swell com- be they got gs in tha subtitles we somethin’, yar so ac’ is edy ‘pitcher. some gi can use. Heman Fay, Jr. V3 MOVIES LAST NIGHT AND SITE AROUND.” pump!" Co-ed IRL. with the What What will you make your profession, Girl with t Come now, that Chemistry session Didn't you find it a bore? Girl with the giddy expression, What are you studying for? D’Annunzio Cohen, WOMEN giddy expression, ure you studying for? giddy expression? Putout: Editor to Office Boy GY DITOR: This is not an original 4 joke. I've read it dozens of times and have heard it oftener. Coxtuimeton: That may — be You've heard Pat tell it to Mike; May tell it to June; Brown tell it to Green, Gray, Black or White; Sophomore tell it to Freshman; Yap tell it to Sap; Abe tell it to Izzy; He tell it to $ Husband tell it to Wife; Rastus tell it to Mandy; Near-Sighted Old Lady tell it to Absent-Minded Professor; Doctor tell it to Patient; Knicker tell it to Bocker; First Flapper tell it to Second Ditto. Now I offer it to you 1s told by Albert G. Simpson’ to Thomas Cartwright, and you say it's not original! Bill: Sykes. PEAKING of brevity is the soul of “rr women's skirts— K comicbooks.com