Life, 1909-12-16 · page 24 of 32
Life — December 16, 1909 — page 24: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page is primarily **Christmas advertising** from an early 1900s Life magazine, featuring luxury gift suggestions and holiday products. The small cartoon at bottom-right depicts a humorous domestic scene: three fashionably dressed women discussing a hat. One advises another ("Gertie") to stuff cheese in her hat and wear it as-is—an absurd suggestion playing on two period concerns: the elaborate, impractical nature of women's fashion hats of that era, and the smell-masking properties of cheese (possibly a crude joke about odor). The joke targets the **pretentiousness of high fashion**: women's hats were notoriously oversized, ornate, and sometimes ridiculous by modern standards. The cartoon mocks both the fashion itself and the casual way women discussed such impracticalities. The remainder of the page advertises Underberg Bitters (a digestif liqueur), Brooks Brothers clothing, gift books, and other upscale holiday merchandise—typical of Life's affluent readership during the Gilded Age.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
For the Holidays Tonic, appetizer and sure aid to diges- tion. Then, there's the Christmas shop- ping with its weariness. UNDER- HERG" braces, rests, almost imme- diately. Keep it in the house for the ase of all, the year round. Try it with sherry and for any mixed drink. It is delicious. Enjoyable as a Cocktail and Better for Yo Over 1.000,000 Bates tmparted to Ualted States % EKG Saket Free. Bottled only by Albrecht Rheinberg, te LUYTIES BROTHERS 204 William Street, New York Sole Agents fStagusnco 1% | role Lorber CORCLOTHING§ Gentlemens Burnishing Goods, Christmas Suggestions All'that is usual—much that is unusual in Trunks, Bags, Travelling Coats and Rugs. Dressing Cases, Razor Sets, Flasks, Pocket Books, Stud Boxes, Cigarette Cases, Umbrellas and Walking Sticks. Mufflers, House Gowns and Jackets. English Pipes and Pouches. Send for Special Christmas Booklet. BROADWAY Cor. TWENTY-SECOND ST., NEW YORK HINTS FOR LOVERS By ARNOLD HAULTAIN Wise and witty sayings about the Tender Passion, book for all lovers, past, preseut, or prospective, p LOWELL’S THE COURTIN’ With Over 40 Illustrations In Colors By ARTHUR I. KELLER “It ts dimMeutt to Imagine « more beautiful and altogether satisfactory ington St of the most Tareatly artisile and beautiful books offered for Christmas sale.”—Battimore Sun. #789 net, Postage, 13 cents, THE NEW GOLFER’S ALMANAC By WM. LEAVITT STODDARD “Charmingly made up and fall of d al stories and witticisms, besides containing mvch valuable Informatio iadelphia Led Titustrated. 0 cents, net. Postage, #0 cente, HENRY JAMES’S ITALIAN HOURS Beautifully Illustrated by JOSEPH PENNELL “To read this book 1s to come upon a thousand deftly drawn rie yew tara. The impressions of an artistic and not unthoughtful observer."— York Tribune. 40 net. Postage, 40 ‘Boston HOUGHTON MIFFLIN CO. New York BY octncs ‘og “ BETTER STICK A PIECE OF CHEESE IN IT, GERTIE, AND WEAR IT JUST THE way IT 13,” comicbooks.com