Life, 1910-02-24 · page 31 of 36
Life — February 24, 1910 — page 31: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page combines satirical poetry with commercial advertising. The left column features "Impudent Interviews," likely a recurring Life feature where the magazine mocks public figures or types through humorous verse. The poem portrays a self-aggrandizing intellectual—"the First of Supermen"—who claims superiority while admitting most of his prolific writings he doesn't believe himself. This appears to satirize H.G. Wells and/or Nietzschean philosophy popular among pretentious intellectuals of the era. The center showcases a Smith Premier Model 10 typewriter advertisement disguised as business correspondence, demonstrating the machine's "Combination Column Finder and Paragrapher" feature for efficient letter-writing. The page also includes brief humor items: a Philip Morris cigarette ad, and anecdotes about Spanish pantaloon laws and a child's letter to angels about his grandmother—typical light filler content for Life magazine's satirical-humor approach.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Impudent Interviews (Continued from page 338) My education? Books are naught; At schools I’ve always spurned; suiyiae, 40i0. So just put down, “The man was a taught"; Or, better still, “ He learned.” smith a* writer coupaty, You seck to know my aim in life?— To write as best I can, To stir a little wholesome strife And hunt the Superman, CALKINS &* HOLDEN - 250 FIFTH AVENUE NEW YORK -ADVERTISING e Advertiding Department, Syracuso, N. Y. Gentleman: Myself, the First of Supermen, 1 levitate above Your wobbling world, and now and then ‘I give the thing a shove. For your next advertisement we would suggest that you explain the use of the column finder and paragrapher In motley clad (“the only wear!”) I watch with fiendish grin Your childish bubbles float in air And prick them with a pin,” about as follows: Press key 4 and the carriage moves to the point where the date is to be written. So with the address, the paragraphs and the signature—a single key, pressed, brings the carriage to the writing point. This is the Combination Column Finder and Paragrapher—a wonderful time saver in letter writing and tabulating—an exclusive feature of the new Model 10 My creed, though big and broad, in- sists On ten perfervid hells, Say one for anti-Socialists And nine for H. G. Wells. Ah, yes; I’ve written loads of stuff From changing points of view, And most of it is bright enough And some, I fear, is true. My Works? Behold them, bound in calf Upon the middle shelf. They're great; yet, somehow, more than half T don't believe myself. Write us about it. The Smith Premier Typewriter Co. ,Inc. Syracuse, N. Y. Branches Everywhere For what is truth? How well I know Walking Costumes A jest confutes the wise! They’re a ripping 800d sort of a smoke. GE 25—. AMBASSADOR erize SOC. eR dsner arse BOCs The Little Brown Box"’ a But this, at least, I’m sure is so— IT PAYS TO ADVERTISF! Arthur Guiterman. A little boy whose grandmother had just died wrote the following letter, which he duly posted: “ Dear Angels: We have sent you grandma. Please give her a harp to play, as she is short-winded and can't blow a trumpet.’’—Wasp. 39 Tue mention made by a local news- paper in Spanish that there seems to be a decided disregard in some of the “barrios "’ of Guadalajara for the law requiring pantaloons to be worn inside the city limits recalls the bulletin boards around the plaza in the town of Etzat- lan, this state, which read: “ Persons not wearing pantaloons are prohibited from walking on this plaza."’ —Guadalajara Times.