Articles from Life Magazine
Attached you will be able to print the film review for Charlie Chaplin‘s movie, Shoulder Arms (1918). Printed in a popular humor magazine from the time, the flick (which had been re-released) was hailed by this one critic as the greatest comedy in movie history.
A Review of Shoulder Arms (Life Magazine, 1922) Read More »
In 1922 former Vanity Fair editor (1919 – 1920) and future Algonquin wit, Robert E. Sherwood (1896 – 1955), taking his job seriously as the film critic for LIFE MAGAZINE, journeyed West to visit the growing movie kingdom of Hollywood. The doors magically opened up for him and he was able to rub elbows with many of the crowned heads of the realm. He filed these eight paragraphs recounting his experiences and observations; you might be amused to read his thoughts concerning the unfinished Hollywood sign.
The article is adorned with cartoons by John Held Jr.. In the world of American 1920s satirical art, he was the gold standard.
Robert Sherwood in the Dream Factory (Life Magazine, 1922) Read More »
In this 1919 cartoon from the old LIFE MAGAZINE, the cartoonist Paul Beny depicted personal liberty taking it on the chin.
Prohibition: Triumph of the Prissy (Life Magazine, 1919) Read More »
James Montgomery Flagg (1877 – 1960) was one of the most celebrated illustrators of this era. He had been a contributing cartoonist for the old LIFE MAGAZINE since he was fourteen years old and he, like many of his colleagues, had a grand old time with the subject of Prohibition.
To read a satirical essay written and illustrated by James Montgomery Flagg, click here..
A Prohibition Cartoon by James Montgommery Flagg (Life Magazine, 1922) Read More »
Who won the war? asks the satirist Herb Roth (1887 – 1953) in this cartoon that appeared in print ten years after America’s entry into the war.
By the time 1927 rolled around, the popular opinion across the Western world was that the war of 1914 – 1918, and the subsequent peace treaty that followed, was a big mistake that left a bad taste in everyone’s mouth. Although there was paper work indicating that World War One was victoriously brought to a close by the collective strength of the French, British, and American armies (among other nations) – by the time 1927 rolled around it didn’t feel like anyone’s victory.
Click here if you would like to read about the 1918 Armistice Day celebrations in Paris.
Click here to read about W.W. I art.
Who Won World War One? (Life Magazine, 1927) Read More »
Attached is a caroon created in response to the memoir of Crown Prince Wilhelm (1882-1951), which came out earlier that same year (the review is posted on this site), this cartoon was drawn by Gluyas Williams
Click here to read about the woman who entertained the U.S. troops during the First World War.
Crown Prince Wilhelm Cartoon (Life Magazine, 1919) Read More »
The number of movie stars who have found Los Angeles a disagreeable spot in which to live and work is a far larger number than you could ever imagine; however, for those of you who are keeping just such a list, here is proof-positive that Charlie Chaplin hated the dump, too.
Charlie Chaplin Sounds-Off on Hollywood (Life Magazine, 1922) Read More »
In the digital age, we are able to recognize civil disobedience and call it by name, but this was certainly not the case for this Old Boy writing in 1912; he read about the criminal past-times of Mrs. Pankhurst (Emmeline Pankhurst, 1850 – 1928) and her two daughters (Christobel Pankhurst, 1880 – 1960; Estelle Sylvia Pankhurst, 1882 – 1960), and thought that no good could possibly come of such rabble-rousing.
The Pankhursts (Life Magazine, 1912) Read More »
Art Young (1866 – 1943) was a cartoonist best remembered for his contributions to the radical magazine The Masses, however the hypocritical behavior that was widely inspired by that Noble Experiment, known as Prohibition, no doubt served as the muse for additional cartoons in other rags.
A Prohibition Cartoon by Art Young (Life, 1922) Read More »
A Fool There Was was originally produced in 1915 starring Theda Bara in the vampire roll; but as the view of women changed in society, to say nothing of popular culture, the producers in the early Hollywood dream-factory decided to re-stage the production with a racier woman in the lead -a flapper-vampire, if you will. The reviewer was sympathetic as to the need for a new adaptation but pointed out that the actress who was re-cast in the Theda Bara roll, Estelle Taylor (1894 — 1958), left the audiences wanting. It was also pointed out that the censorship menace hangs heavy over ‘A Fool There Was’.
In 1919 Theda Bara wrote an article for VANITY FAIR MAGAZINE in which she swore off ever playing a vampire again; click here to read it.
Reviewed: A Fool There Was (Life Magazine, 1922) Read More »
