Life, 1911-06-15 · page 43 of 44
Life — June 15, 1911 — page 43: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is an advertisement for *Ainslee's* magazine, not political satire. The humor is a straightforward joke about magazine content preferences. **The Setup:** A convict awaiting execution on Tuesday complains bitterly about being given a magazine with only continued stories—he'll never finish them before his hanging, making them useless to him. **The Pitch:** *Ainslee's* solves this problem by offering complete stories each month, so even a condemned man could actually finish reading something. The joke plays on the absurdity of the convict's complaint while positioning *Ainslee's* as reader-friendly. **The Appeal:** The ad then lists prestigious fiction writers (Whitaker, Butler, etc.) and promotes a serialized novel ("By the Gate of Allah"), claiming *Ainslee's* balances both complete and ongoing stories—neither purely uplifting nor disappointing ("neither Uplift nor Let-Down"). This is straightforward commercial advertising using dark humor as a sales technique, typical of early 20th-century magazine marketing.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Ainslee’ s—Neither«Uplif? nor «Let-Down?—It Entertains :: “Confound it!” exclaimed the convict, dis- gustedly throwing down the magazine that the prison angel had brought him, “Noth- ing but continued stories—and I’m to be hanged on Tuesday!” Poor fellow! Now Ainslee’s, with its novel and a dozen or more fascinating short stories complete each month—but glance at a copy of this July number, just out,and see for your- self. You will find “By the Gate of Allah,” A Novel of Real Distinction By MARGARETTA TUTTLE And you will find many short stories that are likely to add to the reputations of such writers as Herman Whitaker, Fannie Heaslip Lea, Ellis Parker Butler, Georgia Wood Pangborn, Frank Condon, Churchill Williams, Edna Kingsley Wallace and George Hyde Preston. AINSLEE’S FOR JULY Sold wherever magazines are read. Read wherever magazines are sold. 8 15 cents the copy THE WILLIAMS PRINTING COMPANY, NEW YORK comicbooks.com