Life, 1928-11-09 · page 25 of 52
Life — November 9, 1928 — page 25: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two separate satirical comic dialogues mocking social pretensions of the 1920s-30s era. **"Disillusioned"** satirizes opera appreciation and class conflict. A husband resents paying twelve dollars for opera seats, claiming the "worthwhile" opera *Pagliacci* is merely a theft of the popular radio song "Laugh, Clown, Laugh." His wife defends high culture; he dismisses her snobbery. The joke: the man's complaint about principle over cost exposes how people adopt cultural attitudes they don't genuinely hold to appear sophisticated. **"Two Debs"** mocks wealthy young women's affected speech and casual attitudes toward intoxication. The pair use slang terms for drunkenness ("pipped," "blotto," "plastered," "snozzled") while making vague promises to get drunk together. The final exchange—where one warns the other not to get drunk while saying she knows better—highlights their pretentious, contradictory behavior. Both pieces ridicule affectation and hypocrisy among different social classes during the Prohibition era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Foorrats. Souan or THE Near Future Ir tHe Rutes Get ANY More Comp.icatep Disillusioned “Six bucks a seat! Twelve berries for two seats!" “Are you going to spend the rest of your life growling because we went to the opera?” “I gotta growl coming! Twelve bucks! They oughta be shot!” “That's no way to talk about people who are trying to give us worthwhile music!"” “Worthwhile bologny! They're a pack of bandits!”” “You don’t know good music when you hear it!” “Who, me? Say, don’t I sit in front of the radio every night? Listen, woman: it isn’t the twelve dollars I mind! It’s the principle of the thing! I paid twelve bucks thinking we'd get an even break for the money, at least!” “If you knew anything at all about oper you'd know that ‘Pagliacci’ is one of the finest things ever written!” “Say, listen...” “*Pagliacci’ is Leoncavallo’s master- piece!” “Blah! That shows just how much you know about ‘worthwhile music’! I listened to that whole show closely and it’s noth- ing but an out-and-out steal on that ‘Laugh, Clown, Laugh’ song we've been tuning in every night for six months!” Chet Johnson. New Version: “Where there’s a will there’s a why.” Two Debs “Hetto, m'dear. Say, I'm going on a frightful bender tonight and I expect to get right properly oiled, let me tell you.” “I'd like to get pipped myself tonight.” “Jack Doreen tale me there'll be noth- ing but quarts and quarts of champagne. Maybe I’m not going to get snozzled.” “Oh, how I'd like to get plastered with you, you lucky devil.” “L wish you could. We'll all be blotto. Some day soon, though, we'll get swamped together, m'dear.” “Right, we sure will get pizzoori-cyed. Goodbye, and take care of yourself and be careful you don’t get drunk.” “Drunk! Gosh! I know better than that!” Bernard Teran. comicbooks.com