Life, 1909-08-05 · page 42 of 44
Life — August 5, 1909 — page 42: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a satirical **advertorial** for Life magazine's fictional "Husband's Correspondence Bureau"—a humorous recurring feature. The two caricatured heads (labeled "Before" and "After") represent husbands supposedly "regenerated" by the Bureau's intervention. The satire targets **early 20th-century marriage dynamics**, mocking the idea that wives needed an institutional service to reform or improve their husbands. The Bureau's claim to work "silently throughout the country" regenerating husbands and restoring their "self-respect" is presented as a serious institution, but the exaggerated language and cartoon illustrations reveal it as tongue-in-cheek social commentary on marital discord. The page also promotes Life's upcoming "Special Numbers"—themed issues like the "Fall Sporting Number," "Chorus Girl Number," and others—demonstrating the magazine's editorial strategy of publishing occasional special editions alongside regular issues.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THIS PAGE has attracted attention. We select the following letter, among many others received: “‘Why don’t you work your Husband’s Bureau man longer, and also draw your bright an- nouncement page amuser into the body of the magazine? ’’ The fact is that only a small part of the actual work of the Husband’s Correspondence Bureau appears in LIFE. The real work is being done sad lana wn ewan Betore Joining the Husband's Silently throughout the country. The process of Liespunimace' urea! Correspondence Bureau regenerating husbands, putting them on their feet, getting back even a small measure of their self- respect, is long and arduous. The manager of the Bureau is so busy doing personal work among its patrons, that he has only time for brief references to his labors, in the columns of LIFE, But we want everybody to know that The Husband’s Correspondence Bureau is here to stay. It has come to fill a long felt want. It is a genuine institution, and has already—so the manager informs us—received the silent, if necessarily anonymous support of the best thought in the country All communications should be sent direct to the Bureau. This in answer to the first question of our correspondent. The second question is of equal importance. ‘The truth is that the writer of this page is having the time of his life just where he is. He is surrounded by the best company in the world. But, in addition to all of these material comforts, he is experiencing the intellectual joy of writing about something that he loves, just for itself. OUR SPECIAL NUMBERS are coming along splendidly—growing constantly in interest, infallibility and importance. Naturally we do not intend to have one every week. We have to catch up every once in a while on general matters. We had a Spooks’ Number, for example, somewhere along about here, and we took it off for a while, just as we have the Improper Number. Don't be worried. They are both coming. The Spooks’ Number is gruesome to the last degree. Surfeited with shivers. ‘Teeming with timorous tremors. Every known form of ancestor has been corralled to do his duty by his country. And there are others. In the meantime JUST AHEAD ARE THE Fall Sporting Number (Sept. 2.) How many pages it will contain nobody knows. It grows larger every day. You can count on 48 pages at least. Glad Rag Number (Sept. 9.) Fulminates with Fashions. Fair ladies crowd its pages. No style + omitted and naught set down in solemn guise. Etiquette Number (Sept. 16.) Do you always know just what todo? Get this number and you can associate with multimillionaires. Hudson Number (Sept. 30.) Commemorative of Hendrik Hudson's first visit when he laid the cornerstone to the present tenderloin district. Chorus Girl Number (Oct. 7.) Will bring the blush of shame to the most alabaster cheek. Full of flounces, high kicks and fizz, You can enjoy it with equal mirth, whether you are bald- headed or not. MORE ANON. THE WILLIAMS PRINTING COMPANY comicbooks.com