Life, 1909-09-30 · page 26 of 32
Life — September 30, 1909 — page 26: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a satirical advertisement promoting Life's upcoming "North Pole Number." It mocks the contemporary rivalry between polar explorers Dr. Frederick Cook and Robert Peary, who were competing claims to have reached the North Pole around 1909. The satire works on multiple levels: Life claims to have secured exclusive expedition coverage from both explorers while humorously quoting them denying any desire for publicity or self-promotion—an obvious contradiction given their high-profile competition. The magazine playfully "pays" each explorer "nine hundred and ninety-nine thousand dollars" and threatens to sue any competing publication as a "Liar and a Horse Thief" for copying their exclusive story. The illustrations show arctic scenes and explorers, reinforcing the expedition narrative. The joke is that Life is aggressively promoting its own exclusivity while simultaneously mocking the explorers' false modesty about their achievements and their hunger for recognition and media coverage.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
LIFE SECURES COOK AND PEARY Even now they are on the road to the greatest discovery of Modern Times. What it is you will never know, unless you see The North Pole Number. Ox Next Week It’s a wise pole that knows its own pres: Our mysterious and marvelous expedition has been arranged without any ostentation. We wanted to exploit ourselves. We felt some slight pride in our achievement, but both Dr. Cook and Lieutenant Peary objected. “Far be it from me,” said Peary, “ to advertise my- self in any unseemly manner. All I passionately desire is a life of obscurity. “You couldn't get me to claim anything,” said Cook, “that would make me prominent.” Of course, after this we had to be satisfied with secrecy. We can only say that we have paid each explorer nine hundred and ninety-nine thousand dollars in advance, and from purely patriotic motives arranged it so that what they are now doing will appear only in Lire. Any other paper copying our exclusive news will be called a Liar and a Horse Thief, and other well-known polar names. . . We believe in being dignified, or we might go even farther. 3 TIEAW THEM COMING, They are now en their way to a colder spot than the “1 WAS THE ONLY WITNESS North Pole. Will they return triumphant? We tremble when we think of the consequences, but we hope for the best. In the meantime, the world awaits with hysterical anxiety. Remember, that the next number of Lire will reveal the fatal secret. Out next Tuesday. ICICLES The cover is an Arctic dream. The inside is a refrigerating plant of cold stor- age polar jokes, fresh from the ninetieth parallel. Our observations are all correct. The evidence is all there. By the way, are you a regular subscriber to Lire? Don’t wait for the long polar winter to set in. Have an Aurora Borealis of wit and wisdom all to yourself. For five dollars you can be cheerful for a year. Send your name and address to LIFE, 17 West 31st St., New York telling News THIS WAS A MERE INCIDENT TO WHAT IS NOW ,GOING ate iceriwenx’s (Link: , Obey that impulse. comicbooks.com