Life, 1914-12-10 · page 31 of 40
Life — December 10, 1914 — page 31: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This Life magazine page satirizes the predictable formula of Christmas issues in magazines. The poem by Carolyn Wells mocks how December issues recycled identical content year after year: sentimental stories ("Back to the Old Home for Christmas"), poverty narratives with colored illustrations, carols, recipes, and serviceable advice columns. The comparison cartoon labeled "1914" versus "1950" shows fashion changing dramatically over 36 years—yet the magazine's Christmas content remained static. This is the joke: while society and styles evolve, magazines mechanically repeated the same hackneyed stories and features, assuming readers would never notice. The upper illustration depicts "Women's Rights in the Orient," likely referencing Abbie-ben-Adhem and her harem, appearing to comment on exotic or orientalist content popular in that era's magazines. The satire targets magazine publishers' creative laziness and readers' willing suspension of disbelief in accepting recycled holiday content annually.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Those Christmas Numbers EAGERLY look for December, When the issue of each magazine Shall be, as I always remember, The very best one ever seen. The Table of Contents allures me, Some trifling omission I fear; Ah, no! As I read, it assures me My well-known old friends are all here. Here's “Back to the Old Home for Christmas”, And “What Can I Give to a Man?” “How They Keep Christmas Day on the Isthmus”, And “Hints for a Home-made Divan”. Then “Christmas in Garret and Cel- lar”, A heart-throb of poverty dire; With four illustrations in color— Pink snow and a navy-blue fire. WOMEN’S RIGHTS IN THE ORIENT. ABBIE-BEN-ADHEM AND HER HAREM Then “ Christmas in Song, Sketch and Story”; A carol, “ The Star in Its Glory”, Then a page by our Popular Parsons, An essay, “Is Christmas Love And “How to Make Gifts without Each telling his noblest idea, Lost?” Cost”. “The Cowboy's Cold Christmas at Carson's”, And a sob song, “Won't Santa Be Here?” Then “Christmas with Uncle Sam's Middies”, O'erflowing with nautical mir Next, “Make Your Own Christmas Cards, Kiddies!” With patterns of “ Peace Upon Earth”, Then “Hints Upon Cooking and Service”, Old recipes, trusty and tried; Like “ How to,Make Noodles Though Nervous”, And “How Mother's Doughnuts Were Fried”. Ah, yes, you may look it all over, Not one of the standbys ’twill lack, From the holly-wreathed girl on the cover To the holly-wreathed “ad” on the back. IS A THING OF BEAUTY REALLY A JOY FOREVER? ] Carolyn Wells. comicbooks.com