Life, 1915-01-07 · page 39 of 44
Life — January 7, 1915 — page 39: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page combines editorial commentary on social ambition with period advertisements and a cartoon. **Main Editorial Essay:** The left column satirizes American social climbing. It argues that "reticence" (quiet dignity) is dead in American culture, replaced by aggressive self-promotion. The author mocks how to gain notice: call someone a liar, denounce reform leagues, or oppose women's suffrage—anything controversial to get newspaper attention. Bernard Shaw is cited as the model of this publicity-seeking behavior. The piece laments that even babies now display shameless self-promotion rather than modest shyness. **Advertisements:** Include Everstick rubber (umbrellas) and Calox tooth powder. **Cartoon ("A Dead Ball"):** A well-dressed woman holds a child's hand while looking at a ball—likely satirizing upper-class parenting indifference or the careless treatment of childhood. **Small Joke:** A car owner admits his automobile stays "six months ahead of my income generally"—humor about living beyond one's means. The page reflects Jazz Age anxieties about authenticity, self-promotion, and changing social values.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
fectly simulate sincerity, or what other virtues may be on the program of the period, and you must do all this so well as to carry conviction, The competition is keen. You must. for example, if you wish to “land”, so to speak, “in the public eye”, be- come so active in disinterested public service as to be worthy of notice in the local papers and to be com- mented upon editorially and occa- sionally as a shining example of civic righteousness. There is a regu- lar formula for this sort of thing. Consider the immense benefit at the start of establishing a reputation for civic courage. This can be done in so many ways. You can call somebody a liar, you can denounce the local po- litical reform league, or you can come out against woman suffrage. Hence- forth your envious rivals will say of you, as they shake their heads dubi- ously, “He has mighty few friends A protection without left. He's wrong on every question | being a burden. But—what nerve!" Henceforth you have an assured place in the news- \ SE tend os the dale whe setts papers, right next to the impure read- ing matter. Bernard Shaw is the great model of this sort of thing. Reticence 1s the reverse of all this, the most despised of all sins, because it leads nowhere, and “nowhere” is not one of those American ideals of which orators tell us so much every day. Even babies no longer affect it. Once, when you drew near a strange baby, he hung his head, put his finger in his mouth and bellowed for the fire department, the local police system, Pinkerton’s Agency and his mother. Now he leans back nonchalantly, smiles patronizingly, holds out a chubby paw and says. by Jove, he's glad_of the honor. There is, indeed, no feazing a modern baby, brought up on twilight sleep, Claxton horns, We siedihesCiion Hine trained nurses, phonographs and comic All eager for the trav: sections. That which Tennyson spoke With bristling arms and. powder, . 4S, ; reiting, arms, end coer of as: “Such fine reserve and noble reticence” is no longer en régle com- mercially. There is no room for it. It produces nothing but courtesy and honesty and meditation, the three disgraces. If there were need of it, we should see it reproduced in woman's clothes. But who sees reticence in woman's The Oxygey Tooth Powder clothes? HE battle for sound, white teeth is won by the daily use of the scientific, oxygenized powder T. LM. Dentists advise this powder to secure the highest degree of — tooth cleanliness. “How fast is your car, Jimson?” Sample and colored booklet, asked Harkaway. The Tooth Brush Army, Free. “Well” eaid Jimson, “it keeps about McKesson & Robbins, 91 Foltoa St., New York six’ months ahead of my income gener- ally."—Harper’s Weekly.