Life, 1909-07-29 · page 27 of 28
Life — July 29, 1909 — page 27: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page addresses the postponement of a planned issue with a risqué or sexually suggestive theme (the "Improper Number"). Life magazine had announced it but faced public protests, which the editors sarcastically claim won't deter them ("We'll die first!"). The letter from "A Subscriber" humorously captures the outraged response—using exaggerated Victorian-style moral panic ("A thing so dreadful!") to mock prudish readers who find the magazine's content indiscreet, while simultaneously admitting they're curious ("Of course—I knew it!"). The cartoon illustrations show fashionable women in revealing or suggestive poses, embodying the "improper" content causing controversy. The joke satirizes both the magazine's provocative marketing and American sexual prudishness of the era—Life deliberately courted scandal to boost sales while feigning innocence, knowing readers would be simultaneously offended and intrigued.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
That Improper Number Has been postponed. Now don’t get the idea that we are weakening. Never! We'll die first! But after the announcement of its coming had been made, we began to get protests. They came from everywhere. Here’s an example: EAR LIFE—how could you? You shouldn't—should you? I surely the “ improper’? have misunderstood. I can’t conceive it! I won't believe it! I'm absolutely certain that You never would ! A thing so dreadful— As fill our heads full Of things that even you consider indiscreet ! You'd never do it! Of courseI knew it! ’Twas only just to scare us out of “Life? so sweet ! 7A SUBSCRIBER, ybody musth hance at we have wen responsibility + way we felt about er Number so bad t We 1 atter how humble ing at all, it's worth In. It gave us a every day. Almost any minds in the country m fdea, that we couldn’t afte ment Yo we COMING Aug. 5) Are all summer numbe Sept. 23—A Regular. ‘12 ) simmering with seashore « _ “19 ( tillations and circumambient S¢Pt+ 30—Hudson Number, 26) jocularity. Oct. 7—Chorus Girl Number. Sept. 2—Fall Sporting Number. Oct. 14—Courtship Number. Sept. 9—Glad Rag Number. Oct. 21—Great White Way Number. Sept. 16—Etiquette Number. Oct. 28—Midnight Number. (Order of issue subject to change.) While there’s LIFE there’s certainty—of Wisdom, Entertain- ment, and Beauty, comicbooks.com