Life, 1928-01-05 · page 6 of 34
Life — January 5, 1928 — page 6: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page from *Life* magazine contains two satirical cartoons about New York City tourism and social life, circa early 20th century. The **top cartoon** depicts a theatre usher confronting well-dressed patrons about their language, captioned "THEATRE USHER (remonstrating with uproarious patrons)." The joke targets wealthy New Yorkers' supposed rudeness in public venues—even the refined theatre-going class needed correction for inappropriate conduct. The **bottom cartoon**, captioned "Now Is the Time for All Good Men to Come to the Aid of the Party," shows a chaotic social gathering. The satirical point mocks New York's social scene and party culture, suggesting that even "good men" feel obligated to attend fashionable events, regardless of their actual desire. Both cartoons gently ridicule New York elite society's pretensions and behavioral standards.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Tueatre Usrer (remonstrating with uproarious patron): You'll have to stop it, sir. You can’t use such language in this theatre—that is, except from the stage. How to Know New York RFAD Variety, the Billboard, Zit’s, the Morning T'elegraph; read all the tabloids and all the clec- tric signboards ; read the New Yorker; read the coiumns of F.P.A., S. J. Kaufman, Karl Kitchen, Frank Sullivan, Robert Garland, Russel Crouse, Mark Hellinger, and O. O. McIntyre; read the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal; read the New Masses, Women’s Wear, and the official organ of the N. V. A.; read the Help Wanted col- umns, and the regular Monday page of sermons inthe leadingnewspapers ; read the Daily Jewish Forward; read the telephone directory. Visit the Astor Hotel, the Algon- quin, the Sherry-Netherland, the Brevoort, the Allerton, the Martha Washington, the Mills; visit Macy’s, the Woolworth tower, the Tombz, the Public Library, Childs’ on Fifth Avenue and on Columbus Circle, the Aquarium, the Automat, Reuben’s; visit the speakeasies on Tenth Av- enue and on Fifth Avenue; visit the employment agencies and the casting agencies; visit Texas Guinan’s club and Barney Gallant's and Small's Harlem club; visit Ellis Island and Long Island; visit the Bronx; visit at least ten cloak-and-suit factories, five Kosher restaurants, five burlesque shows, and fifty churches of various denominations; visit—keep on visit- ing everywhere. % Talk to Mayor Walker, George M. Cohan, Otto Kahn, Theodore Drei- ser, John Roach Straton, Mae West, Nicholas Murray Butler, Gene Tun- ney, David Belasco, Grover Whalen, Miss Anne Morgan, Charles Levine, Peggy Hopkins Joyce, Roxy, Al Smith, Paul Robeson, Mr. Browning, John S. Sumner, Irving Berlin, George Jean Nathan, Bernarr Mac- fadden, Alexander Woollcott, Max Steuer, Nathalia Crane, William Randolph Hearst, Frisco, Mr. Zero; talk to one hundred chorus girls, one hundred taxicab drivers, several thousand salesgirls, artists’ models, traffic cops, stock-brokers, buck-and- wing dancers, interior decorators, clubmen, subway guards, chiroprac- tors, gangsters, song-pluggers, Y. M. C. A. secretaries, head-waiters, ani- mal trainers, advertising experts, ticket scalpers; talk to the head usher at the Cathedral of the Motion Picture; talk to Swami Ramayana; talk to the man who conducts the out-of-town-newspaper stand in front of the Times Building; talk to Lew Ney, the Mayor of Greenwich Village; talk to Mr. Campbell, the funeral director who supervised the obsequies of Rudolph Valentino. Live in New York two hundred years. Tupper Greenwald. (Who lives in Cincinnati, O.) comicbooks.com