Life, 1912-11-28 · page 17 of 44
Life — November 28, 1912 — page 17: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes the conflict between magazine owners and editors. The text references a real dispute between Norman Hapgood (editor) and Robert Collier (owner of Collier's magazine), arguing they represent incompatible skill sets. The article's central point: wealthy men who own periodicals often insist on editing them too, driven by vanity—wanting literary credit alongside financial success. This creates dysfunction, as business acumen differs fundamentally from editorial talent. The "too many cooks" metaphor emphasizes how owner interference ruins editorial quality. The small cartoon below illustrates this hypocrisy: a proprietor rants about large corporations threatening small businesses, apparently unaware (or unconcerned with) his own exploitative practices. The joke is the proprietor's blindness to how he himself embodies the corporate menace he denounces—a wealthy owner meddling in operations beyond his expertise.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Editors and Authors HE recent fracas between Mr. Norman Hapgood and Mr. Robert Collier suggests that there ought to be some line drawn between the editor and the owner of a periodical. The business of editing and of writing is a specialty. It does not usually go with the talent for mak- ing money. On the other hand, the talent for making money doesn’t go with editorial ability. When you at-} tempt to mix the two, the results are not satisfactory. + As a rule, those gentlemen who have either inherited money enough or have made it, and own periodicals, are possessed with an insane desire to edit them. They want in addition to the ability to make money thé credit for be- ing literary. They usually start out by acquiring a good editor and, later on, become jealous of him because his work must of necessity advertise itself. It is on very much the same principle that a housekeeper, who does not know how to cook, cannot keep out of the kitchen. Some housekeepers and some owners of periodicals never seem to realize that too many cooks will spoil any broth. To Lo My EVIDENTLY Proprietor (angrily) : 1 TELL YOU THESE LARGE COR- PORATIONS ARE THE MENACE OF THE TIMES. IF WE DON’T WATCH OUT THEY'LL GOBBLE UP EVERYTHING IN SIGHT comicbooks.com