Life, 1928-09-14 · page 27 of 40
Life — September 14, 1928 — page 27: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains several brief satirical pieces typical of Life's humor magazine format: **Top illustration:** Shows Thornton Wilder (author) meeting boxer Gene Tunney while crossing a suspension bridge—a visual joke about their respective public profiles. **"Under a New Name":** Film critic R.E. Sherwood discusses renaming the "Silent Drama" column as talking pictures (talkies) replace silent films. He humorously recalls Oliver Herford's suggestion: "The Unspeakable Drama." The piece celebrates sound film as an improvement, praising its potential despite current crudeness, and celebrating the abolition of subtitles. **Sidebar jokes:** Brief gags including a hotel chambermaid/Bible mix-up and a quip about boxer Johnson's "sang-froid" (literally "cold blood"). **Kentucky Mountains cartoon:** Rural satire depicting a wedding where someone's primary role is "holdin' the gun"—likely a joke about hillbilly violence or shotgun weddings. The page reflects 1920s-era entertainment industry transition and period stereotypes about rural Americans.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
awh il BRR BPR ES | Fe TuorNTon Wier, oN His Watxinc Tre wir Gene Tunney, Comes to One or THose he is destined for a star’s estate in the talkies. There is good work, too, by Louise Fazenda, John Miljan and Otto Hoffman, and by the director, Roy Del Ruth. Under a New Name Tuis department, since its inception, has been known as “The Silent Drama.” Once, several years ago, there were re- ports from Sweden of a talking movie device, and at that time I Spee the fear that I might have to find a new name for the department, and asked for suggestions. The best one came from Oli- ver Herford, who thought that a fine name for a collection of movie reviews would be "The Unspeakable Drama.” Well, the silent drama is now expiring (the talkie is its death rattle) and I am compelled to abandon it as a label for these weekly comments. Shed no tears for the passing of the noiseless films; their time pea come, and they were unable to live beyond it. The talking movie may be crude, and offensive to the finer tastes, but it has fe possibilities, and these eventually will realized. It is still an experiment—and, what is more, it is noble in motive. Any- thing that aims to abolish subtitles and subutle writers deserves to be encouraged. R. E. Sherwood. (Recent Developments, a guide to cur- rent moving pictures, will be found on Page 26.) Crtamnermarp: Are you the lady that asked for a Gideon Bible? Gutst: Yes. Maw: I couldn’t find a Gideon Bible, but will this Holy Bible do? Swincinc Brivces A VERSE To publishers I sent one day A little verse—a summer lay; Twas just a verse— But so were they! W.G.R. Percy Graincer was recently mar- wood Bowl, and one of our contributors, Norman R, Jaffray, wants it to be known that he nearly got engaged once in the Harvard Stadium. Tom: Cold-blooded guy, that fellow Johnson. Jerry: Yes, he is; but you'll have to ried before 30,000 spectators in the Holly-| admit he's got a lot of sang-froid. In tHe Kentucky Mountains “Jed’s playin’ an impo'tant part in the weddin’ to-night.” “Yeah. He's holdin’ the gun.” comicbooks.com