Life, 1910-07-14 · page 36 of 40
Life — July 14, 1910 — page 36: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a self-promotional advertisement for *Life* magazine's upcoming "Dyspeptic's Number," satirizing both hypochondria and magazine subscription marketing. The left cartoon depicts a grotesque, scowling figure—representing the chronic worrier or "dyspeptic"—suffering vague ailments from everyday activities (balloon rides, paying bills, ferry crossings, romantic encounters). The satire mocks neurotic, upper-middle-class anxieties of the era. *Life* positions itself as medicine: read it weekly and your "bright eyes" return, your cheeks gain "healthy color," you'll sit through theater untroubled. The humor lies in treating a satirical magazine as literal cure-all. The right side advertises upcoming special issues ("Nautical Number," "Hell Number"), with the latter's grotesque demon face continuing the darkly comic tone. This is primarily **advertising disguised as humor**—a clever pitch designed to amuse potential subscribers into buying subscriptions ($5.00 yearly) by positioning *Life* as essential to modern life itself.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Dyspeptic’s Number of LIFE Out Next Week Do you have a dizzy feeling when riding in a bal- loon? Have you noticed a pain in the stomach when paying your bill at the St. Regis? Is your heart ir- regular when climbing the Alps? Do you see double when crossing the Hoboken Ferry? Are you a good sleeper in Brooklyn and Philadelphia? Do you ever have a lump in your throat, and a distressed feeling in the cardiac region, when proposing to a strange blonde in the corridor of a Summer resort? If so, get the next number of LIFE and take some of it after each meal for one or two days. Immediate relief will follow. Your friends will call you bright eyes. A healthy natural color will come back to your cheeks. You will be able to sit in the seat of a New York theatre for two hours without locomotor ataxia. All nature will smile and everything be lovely. Then all you need to do is to repeat the dose every week for fifty-one weeks more, by becoming a regular subscriber. Let us make you over. Lead the Five Dollar Life. Or if you think you are taking too many chances with five dollars, send in one dollar for a three months’ subscription. (Canadian $1.13 ; Foreign $1.26. Open only to new subscribers. No subscriptions renewed at this rate. This offer is net.) Coming: Great Midsummer Number August 4 Nautical Number August 18 Hell Number is on its burning way. It will reek with brimstone and sulphur. A complete Guide to the infernal regions. Subscription $5.00 Canadian $5.52 Foreign $6.04 of your or him officer 1 “the pt June comicbooks.com