Life, 1929-05-31 · page 20 of 36
Life — May 31, 1929 — page 20: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page from *Life* magazine depicts the Jazz Age dance craze of the 1920s. The article "Dance, Little Lady!" satirizes the frenetic energy of contemporary dance marathons and jazz culture through vivid descriptions of crowded dance floors, where couples dance continuously for monetary prizes ("ten bucks for a sprint"). The satire targets both the dancers' exhaustion ("pasty faces grin," "bodies lean heavily on hot tired bodies") and the spectacle itself—crowds watching the suffering participants. References to "Shipwreck Kelly" (likely the famous flagpole sitter) and "the goofy god of the Dance Marathon" mock the era's obsession with endurance stunts and youth culture excess. The illustrations show couples dancing amid jazz bands, capturing the period's energetic but somewhat chaotic social scene. The overall tone is bemused critique of 1920s excess and modern entertainment's physical toll.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
18 ee Ne Bo Lg orm Dance, Little Lady! OT glaring lights... a blaring jazz band on a gaudy platform in the cen- ter of a vast white dance floor... tiny couples, arm in arm, slowly, slowly moving around a chalked circle against a background of red and white striped tents melting into rising tiers of seats with white faces showing out against the smoky darkness . . . towering above, atop a flagpole, stands a solitary sentinel with folded arms... he gazes down upon his weaving children . the guardian of the goofs! ... the goofy god of the Dance Marathon! On With The Dance! Dance, dance, dance, little lady! . . . dance, dance, dance! ... round and round the jazzberry bush ... ten bucks for a sprint! . . . set faces break into set smiles . . . tired aching legs stiffen ...the Jazz blares louder «tiny couples whirl around the vast white floor... dance, dance, dance! ... the ten bucks to couple number thirty-onel . . . the goofy god above sends down his benediction . . . once more, the dead march... slowly, slowly . .. round and round the jazzberry bush... hot tired bodies lean heavily on hot tired bodies «faces slapped to keep awake + glassy eyes look up to the aloof goof god atop the flagpole... oh, say can you see by the dawn’s early light . . . rally around the flag, boys! . . . ten bucks to Shipwreck Kelly! ... Ladies and Gentlemen—the two hundredth hour! + ten bucks fora sprint! . . «dance, dance, dance, Little lady! . . . stretcher bearers, this way! .. . couple eighty- six retiring! . . . On with the dancel « hail to the goof god! Let Joy be Unconfined! Pasty faces look down at the tiny figures crawling slowly around the vast white floor . . . pasty faces grin « smoke . . drink . ~ yell. Pasty faces stare up at the goof god “Geez, ‘aint he the nut!” . pasty faces grin . . . “Lookit ’at damel She’s out on ‘er feet! C’mon baby! Snap into it! Ten bucks for a sprint! ...Lookit ‘em go!...Ha Hal That one fell down! . . . Lookit ‘im kick ‘er! ... Atta boy!” .. . pasty faces devour hot dogs .. . peanuts + gum... lemon soda... pasty faces yawn . . . “Geez, the two hun- dred and fourth hour! ... Aw let’s go home! It’s three-thirty . . . yeah « Geez, what a bunch of nuts! + a guy gets goofy lookin’ at ’em! + yeah!” Strange Interlude It’s five o'clock in the morning, we've danced the whole week through « the blaring jazz dies out, the mu- sicians straggle off the platform + Staggering couples stumble ee a eel) u Veep into red and white striped tents and disappear . . . three hours’ rest! . . . Then, on with the dance! . . . the vast white cavern is deserted . . . the goof god slowly clambers down from his dizzy pedestal... peace on earth! Who's Goofy Now? It’s a mad .world, my mas- ters! ... Dance marathons . Bunion derbies . . . Gab- fests . . . Speakeasies ... Prohibition ... Whalen traf- fic . . . Book-of-the-Month clubs... Cannon Chase... futuristic paintings . . . Blue laws . . . Mabel Walker Wille- af brandt . . . tab- loids . . . columns like this . + why pick on the dancing mara- thons? comicbooks.com