Life, 1928-01-05 · page 22 of 34
Life — January 5, 1928 — page 22: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two satirical pieces about early 1920s American urban life. **Top cartoon**: A news dealer jokes with a customer that his wife probably wanted a "Hot Confessions" magazine—a pulp publication targeting women. The satire mocks both sensationalist magazines and the stereotype that women consume trashy romance content. **"The Street of Dreams"**: Nat N. Dorfman's poem satirizes Broadway as a place of contradictions and illusions. It presents cynical observations: broken hearts, cheap tricks, failed theatrical productions, financial exploitation, and moral compromises. The poem suggests Broadway's glamorous reputation masks corruption and desperation. The accompanying cartoon shows two chorus girls, with a caption about "Peggy" quitting the stage after marriage due to "fallen arches"—medical slang implying she was a prostitute. **Bottom note**: References "the Nude Year" (New Year), satirizing flappers' reportedly scandalous behavior at New Year's Eve celebrations—reflecting 1920s moral panic about women's increasing sexual liberation and public conduct during Prohibition.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
WALK: 1) Life if Op Gentleman: My wife told me to get a magazine and I can't for the life of me remember what it was. News-Deater: It was probably Hot Confessions, boss. The women-folk just eat that stuff up. ROADWAY, THE STREET where there’s a broken heart for every light and where new incandescents are constantly be- ing installed for an increasing army of advertisers. Where new words are coined every day and few can spell them. Where hams salute the stars and the stars thank theirs. Where wise guys poke fun at the hicks but forget the hicks have more where the original bank- roll came from. Where the dramatic critics applaud a flop and feel blue over a hit. Where there’s a sucker to every foot of ground and the overcrowding is ter- rible, Where the couvert charge blooms and the bank- roll withers, The Street of Dreams Where a man’s word is as good as his bond and if you insist on the bond you find out exactly. Where a friend in need is a friend in debt. “Yeah, poor Peggy hadda quit the stage an’ get married— she had fallen arches.” Where one half the world doesn’t know how the other half bor- rows, Where every one dreams of a home in the country—for the other fellow. Where a scandal is a lucky break be- cause it gets the name of the actor and the show in the papers. Where every one has an axe to grind and uses the other fellow on whom to sharpen his wits. This, my friends, is Broadway. That is, the Broadway the out-of-towner hopes it is. And he's right. Nat N. Dorfman. ROM what we saw in restaurants on the - evening of December 31, our flappers have started the Nude Year right. comicbooks.com