Life, 1927-11-03 · page 9 of 44
Life — November 3, 1927 — page 9: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes the "New Woman" of the 1920s Jazz Age. The illustration at top shows a fashionably dressed woman (labeled "She 'Made' the Team") leading a group of plainly-dressed children, reversing traditional gender roles where men lead families. The main article, "A Movie Director Discovers Roget's Thesaurus," mocks how movie directors manipulated actresses with excessive, repetitive praise and commands ("You are dazzled! You are stunned! You are electrified!"). The joke critiques both the artificiality of film direction and the gullibility of actresses. The sidebar dialogue between characters "Gladys," "Beth," and "Radio Fan" references marriage and the "Fourth Commandment" (honoring parents), suggesting anxiety about modern women's independence from traditional family authority. The satire targets changing social norms around women's autonomy and roles.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
\ She ‘‘Made”’ the Team an a a A Movie Director Discovers Roget’s Thesaurus the director. astounded! You OUT!” cries are startled—you P nit the brows! Frown! are dazzled—you are dazed! You Scowl! Snarl! Growl! Gnarl! are dumfounded! You are electri- -a little more gnarling, Miss Del fied! You are stunned! You are Amour: ho-o-old it!—Snap! Redden! — stupefied! You are petrified! You Color! Well, try to! Look black! are confounded! You are bewil- Look dag, !! Bite the thumb—! dered! You are flabbergasted—not Show the teeth—! Grind the teeth—! too much flabbergastion — you are Too bad, that ‘bite the thumb’ won't go in Pennsylvania. All right, Miss Del Amour! You've just learned that Boris is y "your husband. You won- You You start — you stare! You open your eyes! You rub your eyes! You turn up your eyes! 1 gl Ah! Gloar again. You gape—enough, enough! You ire all agog! You look rfect! — You cannot your eyes! You cannot believe your ears! You cannot believe your senses! You cannot recount for it! You don’t know whether you are stand- ing on your head or your heels — no, stay on your heels!—You are astonished —you are amazed—you are are surprised ! es Beth: Gladys: po you KNOW THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT? HUMOR THY FATHER AND MOTHER, ISN'T IT? staggered! You are thrown on your The other end! Now up again! It turns your head! It strikes beam end! you dumb! cleave to the roof of Hold that cleave! You are You are breathless! You are open- mouthed—show your dimple. You awe-struck! You thunder- You are moonstruck— spellbound ! It makes your tor uth! aghast! your m are struck! planetstruck lo-o-ost are You are You astonishment! You are uhhh! That's mi us in amazement! are lo-o-ost in struck all of a heap wonderful—marvelous overwhelming — beggar- CUT!” L. L. Laedlein. 1] —colossal ing descriytion Typical ~—— & C NE COMMUTER | y (reading paper): Well, well, what do you know! It \\ says here that J : ") Cartilage, heavyweight champion, was married last night Ramp Frout Fax: May j be—but I'll bet the wedding was “fixed.” comicbooks.com