Life, 1914-10-08 · page 42 of 44
Life — October 8, 1914 — page 42: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page mixes advertising with satire typical of Life's early 20th-century format. **Main Content:** A Vanity Fair magazine advertisement features a "jury" of twelve prominent figures (including playwright Charles Frohman, actor John Drew, and sculptor Frederick MacMonnies) endorsing the publication. The joke is that their collective judgment about a magazine's quality is being presented as authoritative—yet the text sarcastically questions whether such opinions matter at all. **Satire:** The page includes a biting definition of "Text-books" that mocks educational publishing as deliberately inaccurate and self-serving, with publishers and textbook authors essentially promoting their own materials through reciprocal arrangements—a criticism of institutional corruption. **Historical Context:** The "Favorites" section lists world leaders (Kaiser, Czar Nicholas, Admiral Tirpitz) with satirical one-liners, reflecting WWI-era political commentary. Woodrow Wilson's entry—"Get together"—appears to reference contemporary peace efforts. The page demonstrates Life's role as a satirical publication attacking both commercial and political institutions.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
646 Add Distinction to Your Dinner Let it express the dif- ference between mere money-spending and dis- ee criminating \ » EXTRA. ORY CHAMPAGNE sparkling with life and purity, every bubble bursting with sponta- neous gaiety, full of the delicate fragrance of the grape, delightful of flavor —no amount of money can buy a wine to surpass in quality this American champagne. Costs less than imported cham- pagnes because the cost of the import duty and ocean freight is added to the price of foreign made wines. You pay for quality alone when you buy Cook’s. f (m7 . Sold Everywhere rife ud Served Everywhere WU American Wine Co. s 8T. LOUIS Text-books TEXT-BOOK is a collection of statements about a particular subject, arranged A in such a manner as to stand between the pupil and what he might wish to know about the subject if his curiosity were aroused. It is not necessary for a text-book to be invariably inaccurate, because where it happens to be correct the teacher can always supply cnough inaccuracies to make it satisfactory. Text-books are not always, but quite frequently, written by school-men who have charge of systems where their text-books can be used—this method opening the way, by advertisement, to their use in other systems—where other school-men are writing text-books also, thus establishing a kind of text-book reciprocity. Text-books are sold hy publishers, who employ various means. Sometimes they employ agents, sometimes boards of education, and sometimes legislatures. Their Favorites THE French Army—To be or not to be. Tue German Katser—I'd rather be wrong than be President. Asput. Hasi—Onward, Christian soldiers, Czar Nicnotas—Go west, young man. Abarat Tirpitz—Pull for the shore, sailor, Count Zeppetin—Women and chil- dren first. Wooprow Witson—Get together. Here is George Ade Walter Camp Charles Frohman Raymond Hitchcock Jack London Frances Starr a Jury! Joseph H. Choate Acton Davies John Drew Charles Dana Gibson FrederickMacmonnies Otis Skinner Would you consider their judgment of a magazine worth anything? In the September number of VANITY FAIR you will find an opinion of the magazine—each expressed in is or her own words—not only from these twelve but from sixty-five others equally worth consulting. If you like the great English weeklies—if you enjoy un- usual photographs of unusual people—if you are at all interested in horses and dogs and motors and golf—if you want the best fashions for both women and men—then you will like Vanity Fair. ‘ The October number, now ready, is an excellent one to begin with. You can get it at any better class newsstand. Better still, tear off this coupon and let us send you, not alone this October number, but the five that will follow. The regular price is 25 cents a number, but you may have a six months’ “try out” subscription for $1 by using the coupon at once.