Life, 1910-10-20 · page 4 of 44
Life — October 20, 1910 — page 4: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page promotes an upcoming "Midnight Number" of *Life* magazine, using humor to encourage subscriptions. The central cartoon depicts a sleepless figure—representing insomnia—suggesting the magazine's content will be too entertaining to sleep through. The page employs playful mockery of the magazine's own upcoming issues: "The Hell Number" (promising sulfuric satire for November 17), "One Hundred Page Numbers" (apparently a lengthy special), and "After Hell the Goody Goody" (a contrasting wholesome issue). The satirical tone is self-aware and tongue-in-cheek—*Life* markets itself as intellectually stimulating and morally varied, offering "richness and variety" among "fifty-two" annual issues. The Byron quote about the nightingale emphasizes the magazine's literary aspirations. Subscription cost: $5 yearly.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
LIFE is $5.00 a Year ($5.52 to Canada; $6.04 Abroad) al +E y Be gh The Hell Number Will suffuse its sulphuric presence on the fifteenth of November (dated Nov. 17). Put out your furnace fires, Take off your coonskin coat, Remove the harps and lyres And make a mental note To Obey That Impulse. Keep It Dark! The next number of LIFE will make you sit up! A Midnight Number. LIFE is wide awake these days, you know—this ought to convince you. The next number cheers but does not inebriate. Tuck up your minds between its pages, and be carried along by the lilt of soft laughter. It circumvents insomnia. You'll be surprised (unless you are already aware of them) at the number of things that can happen at midnight, when most of the world is draped in slumber. As Byron says: This is the hour when, from his bower, The nightingale’s high note is heard. This is the hour when every whispered word—— Naturally, you must expect in this number a glow of senti- ment. That makes it all the better. In richness and variety it is a gem of purest ray serene, among fifty-two others, set in the cycle of the year. Be a subscriber. We throw this advice in without extra charge. It’s the best thing we ever said. By the way, did you obey that impulse? It isn’t too late— A Midnight Number After Hell the Goody Goody This pristine and alabas- One Hundred ter number will follow im- Page mediately after the Hell Numbers one. i case you don’t see . what you want in the Hell, of Life 9 are TAN) you will find it in the Goody Goody. (We strive to please.) It's fascinatingly inspir- ing. A saintly symposium of sumptuous sweetness. Coming Al THE comicbooks.com