Life, 1916-01-06 · page 43 of 48
Life — January 6, 1916 — page 43: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This Life magazine page combines satirical content with period advertising. **The Cartoons/Satire:** The main interview satirizes "Father Time" as a character complaining about humanity's treatment of him. A visitor confronts Time about the terrible year (1915) he's provided—referencing World War I, blood, poverty, and disasters. Father Time responds sarcastically that humans constantly kill/waste time anyway, so why should he care about giving them a good year? The small cartoon above shows a lost person being directed over a cliff, darkly mocking New York geography. **Historical Context:** This reflects 1915-1916 anxieties about World War I's devastation and social upheaval. The satire critiques both the year's events and human nature's self-destructive patterns. **The Advertisement:** The large Resinol Soap ad promotes a medicinal soap for skin protection during winter, a common health concern of the era. Below appears a King George IV Whisky ad—both typical period product placements.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Ny 9) ons a Tr] Shy LUYYY Y GUM, 2 ¢)) oy “SAY, SONNY, WHICH 1S THE SHORTEST WAY TO THE NEW YORK FERRY? “RIGHT OVER THE CLIFF, MISTER.’ An Interview HAT years have you got?” Thinking to forestall our more or less genial old friend, Father Time, by calling upon him in his own home and literally taking the old gentleman by the forelock, we presented ourselves before him early one morning in De- cember. He looked up from a rather preten- tious new calendar he was fashioning with a grim smile, “For private use?” he asked. “Young man, I can’t be bribed. You'll have to take the same year that the rest get. If I should attempt——” Here he got up and began, in an agi- tated manner, to walk the floor. “If I should attempt,” he repeated at last, “to answer all the foolish com- plaints to make individual years to or- a triend to tender skins Resinol Soap is not arti- The soothing, healing medication in Resinol Soap _ ,,.hepinel oan, is not arn which is so helpful in clearing poor cor ions, iS brown being entirely P § P mplex ; to the Resinol medi equally dependable for protecting delicate skins from it contains. Sold. by all av fA 4 ‘ Uruggists and dealers in the havoc of winter’s wind and cold. Arugeists aoe ee To use Resinol Soap for the toilet is usually to make — ze cake, with a. s ~|sure that one’s complexion will come through the cold free, write to Dept. -E weather unharmed, and that the hands will be kept free "svnel, Batimore, Ml from redness, roughness and chapping. also contains the Resinol If lack of proper care shou/d result in painful and {5 he ed Cookie unsightly chapping, a little Resinol Ointment will face, while supplying a rich, creamy, non-drying generally afford complete relief. lather. IN SHAHN der for everyone—well, where would I be? There’s no money in this year business, anyway.” “Why put it on a cheap commer- cial basis?” I urged. “We don’t ex- pect you to furnish a year to suit everybody, but think, my dear sir, of the last awful one you handed out to us! War, blood, poverty, disasters— why, I simply can’t dwell upon it. At the risk of incurring your permanent displeasure, therefore, I am calling upon you to know if you cannot do better next time. If you have any re- spect for the human race, for heaven's sake give us a halfway decent nineteen hundred and sixteen.” At this he fairly snorted with rage. “Respect for the human race!” he exclaimed. “ And what respect has the human race for me, I should like to know? Aren't they for constantly kill- ing me, without any let up?” “Have you never heard, Father,” |