Life, 1909-12-30 · page 24 of 29
Life — December 30, 1909 — page 24: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a New Year's promotional piece where *Life* magazine advertises itself to potential subscribers. Rather than specific political cartoons, the page contains: **Main content:** A self-promotional manifesto celebrating *Life*'s editorial staff and upcoming content. The text boasts of columnists like Martin (editorial), Metcalfe (drama criticism), Kerfoot (book reviews), and Larned (literary commentary)—figures prominent in *Life*'s circle but unknown today. **Visual elements:** An elongated, stylized female figure (representing *Life* or modern womanness) and a small sketch of a worried man—generic satire tropes of the era. **The pitch:** *Life* promises 1910 will bring unprecedented wit, humor, special numbered issues, and artistic covers. The magazine positions itself as fearlessly satirical, defining society's "hypocrisy and vanity" through humor. **For modern readers:** This reveals *Life*'s self-image as sophisticated, morally purposeful satire—not mere entertainment. The breathless promotional tone reflects pre-WWI American confidence and the magazine's cultural authority.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
We Have No Settled Plan ‘That is one of the great beauties of a paper ike LIFE. We never know what we are going todo next. To-morrow is a vast reservoir of fun, fancy and frivolity. All we are sure of at present is that LIFE for the Coming Year will be the greatest aggregation of elevating, astounding, inspiring, rollicking, exciting, satirizing, humorous, luminous, absorbing, and absolutely irresistible wit and humor the world has ever dreamed of. Some Things we are reasonably sure of: Wea ethat } artin’s weekly E i tly remarked, will con more exactly than any other. WH} Those Covers We are sure that Mr. Metcalfe's Dramatic y Everybody knows that LIFE has covered it- Fight will go right on, and that LIFE’s self with glory during past year by its matic Criticisms will continue to be the best wonderful covers. in the field. . Next year the Great Pictorial Pace will be We are sure that Mr, Kerfoot's Book Reviews i will give a better idea of current literature than f a¥cty, UMDEE will have a colored Cover. you can getanywhere:elee: j _Each one will be an artistic gem. It will d . give you a real intellectual sensation We are sure that Mr, Larned's Literary é Better be sure of seeing them all! and Mr. 1 cme! c 2 tion of best sellers will continue to enlight and enliven and instruct. PS Special Numbers H N ' = LiFk'S Special Numbers for 1910 are coming on thick and fast. LIFE has an unlimited appy ew Year ” se: field in this respect. All subjects are possible. We are not afraid to “ tackle" anything. The largest staff of artists of any paper in the world are all sitting up nights thinking of ideas, and all the brightest literary minds in the country are doing the same. You'd be zed if you knew the vast number of gigan- tic intellects that are working continually to contribute to your pleasure What LIFE Is province is to define things in the stand most interesting way itcan com- mand, from week to week. Or, to put it in another way, it tells what it conceives to be the truth in as wise, as witty and as short a way as possible. LIFE is amoral agent. It offers a series of pictorial and literary defini- tions which reveal the hypocrisy and the vanity of this world. It is inevitable, of course, that a paper as fearless as LIFE and constantly using satire as a weapon must offend. Onthe other hand, a comparison with other hamorous papers over a period of weeks would reveal the wee idn’! fact that LIFE publishes in the long ran more ‘The moving finger writes, and, having writ, He is one of the few wilo didnt ore tun than any other humorous paper. moves on, and no one realizes that only the 4Ve" warning everybody and regular subscribers to LIFE are not afraid. : See Next P. Why? Because they have an eternal font of joy. Obey That Impulse ! vee Nex age. comicbooks.com