Life, 1929-05-24 · page 22 of 36
Life — May 24, 1929 — page 22: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes the theatrical world of 1920s New York. "The Little Show" is a real Broadway revue that the critic praises for being intellectually clever rather than relying on "undraped female brawn"—mocking the era's tendency toward spectacle over substance. The main joke is "Exhibit A": a sketch where a songwriter pitches a theme song to Hammacher-Schlemmer (a real luxury goods company) called "Hammacher-Schlemmer, I Love You." The parody song is intentionally overwrought and absurd—transforming a commercial jingle into an epic life story about war, fatherhood, and corporate loyalty. The satire targets both advertising's pretensions and Tin Pan Alley's saccharine songwriting. By taking a mundane business pitch and expanding it into grandiose emotional territory, the sketch mocks how advertising tries to create artificial sentiment around commercial products. The cartoons illustrate the composer pitching this ridiculous idea to confused businessmen.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Odd’s Bodkins! ERE’S where we burst right H into Odd Melntyre’s depart- ment and show our public (all three of them) what a dramatic critic should be... all of which leads up to a litte pri- vate raving which we wish to do, and which we note in these same pages that the estimable Odd al- ready has done in a small way, about a big hit called “The Lit- tle Show” this modest little wow at the Music Box proves conclusively the age-old theory that brain is mightier than one hun- dred and twenty pounds of undraped female brawn, and also that funny revues can be written without de- eeeo 4+eBa &. Pero pending entirely on humorous weeklies. Little But Oh My! The Little Show makes Charlot's Revue look like the second act of Strange Interlude and again proves that Americans can be just as_ brilliant, clever, charming and subtle as their English cousins . . . three loud cheers now, fellas, for the red, white and blue! Exhibit A. For Exhibit A. take the “Theme Song” sketch ... the author of the movie theme songs “Redskin, | Love You,” “Woman Disputed, I Love You,” “Shopworn Angel, 1 Love You,” etc. addresses the directors of the Hammacher-Schlemmer Co. and sells them the idea of a theme song for their business; namely “Hammacher- Schlemmer, 1 Love You” « here- with is Howard Dietz’ epic. When I was but a little lad Before I lived to ten 1 had a streak of something bad But that, oh that, was then. Now I've grown to be a man I've grown to man's estate And something's come into my life That's fine—that's more than great. Then came the war (bugle) And with all the rest Saco That came from north, east, south and west 1 went and tried to do my best ‘Twas love that made me stand the test OA, yes, 1 did my best ’tis true But did no more than you would do. I was inspired by something big By something that was real and fine and true You've often heard the phrase, 1 sup- pose Ten little fingers, ten little toes. They came to me and I was proud 1 told my luck to all the crowd I told them that the boy who'd been a lad Had grown to be a father, yes, a dad Supporting a beautiful wonderful wife With a salary from a firm that gave me life So always remember Hammacher - Schlemmer, 1 love you. comicbooks.com