Life, 1912-03-21 · page 41 of 52
Life — March 21, 1912 — page 41: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two distinct elements: a satirical short story and corporate advertising. **"The Man With a Glass Heart"** is a science-fiction satire about a man who undergoes surgery that gives him a transparent chest, allowing him to literally see others' internal organs. The story uses this surreal premise to satirize human curiosity and voyeurism—the protagonist becomes obsessed with observing others' "operations" (surgeries, life changes). It's absurdist social commentary on people's tendency to be nosy and fascinated by others' misfortunes. **"The Open Doors" advertisement** from American Telephone & Telegraph promotes the Bell telephone system using metaphor. The imagery of building facades with open doors symbolizes the accessibility of universal telephone communication—the system connects six million subscribers like doors opening to conversations nationwide. The copy emphasizes that telephone service reaches "twenty million people" daily, positioning AT&T as essential infrastructure enabling universal connection. Both pieces reflect early 20th-century American attitudes: curiosity about technology's transformative power and faith in corporate systems enabling social progress.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
aS anx- s prem struck he door it, with faced king at him a nd ad- r, with- " asked c hides ) stand- ying to gh that lar Prices. including IN, New York. ywheres BAP ADAMS oN AMERICAN BANKERS ASSOCIATION TRAVELERS’ CHEQUES Pay All Bills with “A. B. A.” Cheques, when you travel in America, Europe or any other part of the World. They are the safest, handiest, most satisfactory form of travel funds —“the per- » fect international exchange.” Write to Bankers Trust Company, 7 Wall Street, New York, for inter- esting Booklet, "The Cheque Good in EveryLand,"and information / as to where you can obtain BANKER “Why, don’t you know that until you are sick, until you have something hap- pen to you, you never notice anything enables me to twirl it in any direction is extra; but I had it put on, as I am naturally very inquisitive, and like to The Man With a Glass Heart (Continued from page 395) new and improved methods enabled a man to lose consciousness during the entire period of convalescence, so that all he had to do was to walk away. He shook hands with the doctor and nurses and walked out. The first thing that came to him was a feeling of ex- hilaration. He walked faster and faster. It made no difference. Then he began to run. Strange to say, the effort did not make him tired. All he felt was a regu- lar buzzing in his chest, a sort of merry sing, like that of a six-cylinder machine. But there was nothing of exhaustion— not the slightest sign of it. He ran as hard as he could along the quiet strect—it made no difference. He wasn't tired a bit. Pretty soon he looked up and saw a lady approaching. She was walking along with a parasol over her head, and he was amazed as he saw a singular thing happen. Apparently not knowing that any one was looking at her, she was amusing herself by twirling her head around. How it spun! He coughed. The head suddenly stopped and resumed its normal pose. “T beg your pardon, madam,” he said. “Are you alive?” She smiled sweetly, She was quite a pretty lady. Her features were ex- tremely regular. “Certainly,” she replied. Then she gazed at him intently. .The distant hos- pital was in sight, looming large in the foreground. “Ah,” she replied, “I see how it is. Yeu have just come out. And it never happened to you before.” “What never happened to me be- fore?" he asked, politely. of that sort in others? You have just been operated on, have you not?” “Yes, I—” “Well, you sec, now you will notice all the operations that others have had. had made him alert. You will find it rather amusing. For Pretty soon he saw a man coming example, I have a new head.” along. “Where did you get it?” This man was carrying a huge bunch “Why, from my family surgeon, of of bananas in his hand, and as he course. This patent arrangement that walked he was eating them as fast as he The Open Doors notice everything that happens.” “What an idea!” exclaimed Gillson, involuntarily, as he bowed and they sped away from cach other. His experience The Bell system opens more than six million telephone doors, so that each subscriber can talk with any other subscriber. It provides a highway of universal communication to open and connect all these doors. It also furnishes the vehicle for use on this = highway, to carry speech from door to door throughout the land. The Bell highway is used daily by more than twenty million people—all telephone neighbors— by means of universal service. AMERICAN TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH COMPANY AND ASSOCIATED COMPANIES One Policy One System Universal Service 5 comicbooks.com