Life, 1929-02-01 · page 14 of 40
Life — February 1, 1929 — page 14: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a lifestyle/entertainment column by Beau Jeste (a pen name the author jokes about), discussing Broadway social scenes and theatrical gossip. The top illustration shows the vibrant chaos of 1920s nightlife—crowds at dance halls and parties. The main cartoon depicts a woman in an elaborate patterned dress arriving at what appears to be a formal venue, while a man pushes a baby carriage. This satirizes the era's gender role reversals during the Jazz Age, mocking the contrast between women's increasingly bold public presence and traditional domesticity. The text discusses actress Irene Delroy and theatrical performances, including references to costume balls where attendees wore expensive rented costumes—commentary on nouveau-riche conspicuous consumption during the prosperous 1920s.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Life No, we don’t like the name Beau Jeste | O'Neal, the best little comedienne in the |Every year the Beaux Arts Fancy Dress either! it sounds too what the young men will wearish...so what would you suggest, you little reader, you. .. .now for a flood of two or three letters. Rare sights along Broadway... the beg- | gar with the victrola hanging from his neck the sporty new LaSalle taxies the girlies with the extra pair of rolled - down socks... the well - known young man about town and his girl friend in a wk. night club who decided to “sit | the dance out” and sat it out in the middle of the dance floor... We won't mention any names but the sketch below by Russell Ziegfeld Patterson is a very good likeness of the gent The Rivoli Theatre sign, | “The Sins of the Fathers—with a Happy Ending.” Tue hit of the season .. Follow Thru | six (count ’em) song hits... .“My| Lucky Star”. “Button Up Your Over- coat”. .“You Wouldn't Fool Me”. “I'll Have Time For You’’...“I Want To Be| Bad”. “Anything But You” Zelma\| business... Irene Delroy, than which there is no whicher.. I hereby nomi - nate Irene Captain of the All-Ameri- can Beauty Team, Ano here tiz Vilma Banky, Greta Garbo, Billie Dove, Dolores Costello, Barbara Newberry, Madeline Gibson,* Bernice Ackerman, Barbara Stanwick, Norma Shearer, Helen Gililand...*Madeline is really English but in she goes anyway! Irene Delroy, Ball gets fancier and fancier. when it first started you could slide through as 3 monk or a pirate and not worry very much if you did spill cocktails all over your rented costume but nowadays you have to wear at least twenty-five dollars’ worth of lavender and old lace to get by. . this year, the period being Napoleonic, | had a bright idea, and decided to go as Maret in case you are a little foggy on your French history, let me explain that Marat was a gentleman of the old French schoo who did all of his writing while seated in a bathtub until Charlotte Corday came along and stabbed him with a bread knife now, history tells us, Charlotte was very modest dresser so my idea was to get a gel to go as Mme. Corday and wheel me into the ball in a bathtub but I couldn’t get a gel. . almost had one signed up but she suddenly cried “But sup pose they should play the ‘Star Spangled Banner’! _ | tried to convince her that the “Star Spangled Banner” wasn’t populit in Napoleon's time but she wouldn't be lieve me....she finally decided to cary a Borzoi book and go as Mrs. Napoleos Bonaparte so there was nothing left for me to do but go as Napoleon. . .. which! did and the whole two hundred and fifty three of us Napoleons had a great time! comicbooks.com