Life, 1915-12-02 · page 87 of 100
Life — December 2, 1915 — page 87: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is **advertising disguised as editorial content**—a Western Electric Company advertisement promoting electrical household appliances during "Electrical Prosperity Week" (November 29-December 4). The "satire" is gentle mockery of modern domesticity: a woman brags to a friend (via telephone) about how electricity has eliminated her housework, allowing her to leave instantly for social engagements. She lists: electric dishwasher, clothes washer, iron, vacuum, cooking appliances, lighting, and an inter-phone (intercom). The joke is the lifestyle fantasy—that electricity creates effortless leisure. The surrounding photographs show various electrical devices in domestic use. **Context for modern readers:** This represents early 20th-century *marketing of the electric home as aspirational*. The ad assumes readers will find humor in the exaggerated claims while actually promoting Western Electric's products (and the Bell telephone they manufacture). It's propaganda dressed as comedy, promoting both consumerism and female domesticity through labor-saving devices.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
"-CHRISTMAS LIFE- “YES drive over right away-I'll be ready. “My housework! Oh that’s all done. “How do Ido it? I just let electricity do my work nowadays. I have an electric dish washer and an electric clothes washer, and iron with my new electric iron. “Sweeping and cleaning? Simplest thing in the world with our electric vacuum cleaner. “And say, Ethel, Jack and I are cooking our breakfasts right at the table with our electric toaster stove and coffee percolator. “Cost much to run them? No, you see weuse Mazda Lamps. They give us more light than the old carbon lamps; but use so much less current that even with all these electric devices, our light bill isn’t much more than it was before. “Then I have my Inter-phone, which saves considerable stair-climbing. “Do they get out of order? “Haven't had a bit of trouble so far. “Jack says they are the best that are to be had, for they are made by the Western Electric Company. You know Ethel, they make this Bell telephone over which we are now talking. “Certainly, you can buy these electric devices in most any electrical store; or you can write direct to the Western Electric Company. Ask fora copy. of their booklet “The Electrical Way”, it is No. 61-AK “I'll be ready when youcome. Goodbye.” WESTERN ELECTRIC COMPANY ELECTRICAL PROS BERITY WEEK \ 463 West Street, New York City Western comicbooks.com