Life, 1910-01-06 · page 22 of 76
Life — January 6, 1910 — page 22: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page announces a writing contest where Life magazine will pay ten dollars per word to readers who can correctly interpret a mysterious telegram depicted in an Orson Lowell illustration (not visible here). The text references President Theodore Roosevelt, who reportedly earned one dollar per word writing about his African safari—Life humorously suggests their payment rate is superior. The cartoon at top shows two figures puzzling over a telegram, establishing the contest's central mystery. The page is largely self-promotional, with Life boasting superior content density compared to competitors and acknowledging past overhyped "special issues" (notably mentioning a disappointed "chorus girls' number"). Life positions itself as generous, welcoming non-subscribers to enter the contest. The page also previews upcoming issues and announces a future College Contest for students.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“NOW. WHAT DO YOU SUPPOSE THAT TELEGRAM DOES SAY?" Coming Numbers Next Weeh—Regular Have you ever been disappointed in some of the special numbers of LIFE? We have._ Some one whispered to us the other day, that after reading one of these page announcements of a certain number, they were keyed up to expect'more than what really hap- pened. Personally we didn’t care soj;much for the chorus girls’ number, although beforehand we believed in it so firm'y, we spoke well of it. You can’t always account for personal bias, and you can’t always tell just how a number is coming out. Jan. 20—Spinsters’ Number Cover by Hutt This is going to be a—Never mind, we shall tell next week as much as we can predict about it beforehand. From what we already know of it, however, we feel certain that it will be a perfectly splendid number. Mr. Hutt’s cover is a beauty. Jan. 27—Regular One fact, however, must never be forgotten. In spite of slight variations between our predictions and the act- ual result, LIFE is giving its readers more ideas to the square inch, and more really nourishing text and pic- tures than any other weekly paper in the world. Get them all and makeacomparison. So it really doesn’t matter if occasionally we make an error in calculation. We mean well. TenDollars a Word That is what Lire will pay to— you, perhaps, who knows? Mr. Roosevelt, we understand, re- ceived about a dollar a word for his African messages. But then he isn’t writing for Lire. Everyone who reads this is eligible. After you have read the advertise- ments in other pages of this number, and have been instructed and edified and amused by them, turn over into the text pages where the more humble and unassuming efforts of LiFr’s artists and writers are in evidence, and youwill see astunning picture by Orson Lowell, and over it the question What does this Telegram Say? That will explain everything. Note that we don’t bar you out if you are not a regular subscriber. We believe in being generous. This Contest By the way, is only the first of a series of contests planned for the coming year. It will be followed by a College Contest, open to all college students. Begin now, please, to reflect about your own col- lege, its life and its meaning. Maybe this knowledge will be of great value to you later on, a Au Revoir comicbooks.com