Life, 1916-05-04 · page 50 of 52
Life — May 4, 1916 — page 50: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two main advertisements typical of 1910s Life magazine. **Left side: Carmen Complexion Powder ad.** A woman admires her reflection, illustrating the era's beauty ideal. The ad promises a powder that looks natural—"without a trace of artificiality"—addressing women's anxiety that visible makeup would appear improper or cheap. The small cartoon at bottom shows a rooster, likely a crude joke about dressing up (the rooster's comb). **Right side: Vanity Fair magazine subscription.** This is satirical advertising. It mocks aspirational New Yorkers by promising that a $1 subscription (six issues) will transform readers into "sophisticated people"—implying that merely reading about Manhattan's social scene grants social status. The humor lies in the exaggeration: relatives won't recognize you; you'll seem like "European crowned heads." It's gentle mockery of status-consciousness and the fantasy that consuming the right magazine makes one cultured. Both ads exploit early 20th-century anxieties about appearance and social standing.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
No more delicate compliment can he paid a woman than this—"she is as pretty as a picture.” Women who desire a complexion that will he admired and not questioned cannot he too careful of the powder they use. Ordinary face powders (no maiter how fine they may seem in the box or between the fingers) are disappoint- ing under the real test—on the face. Such powders deaden the skin with a lifeless hue. Or they do worse—bespeak “ make-up. To use them is to be haunted by the fear that they will fail you any minute—in the wind, in the ring light or in the heat of the dance. here is one complexion powder that stands every test— Carmen Complexion Powder The one powder perfected under such a process as to impart the fresh bloom of girlhood without a trace of artificiality. It does not rub or blow off. You are sure of a charming complexion at all times—regardless of strong lights or of the effects of perspiration. The scent enhances its refinement. 50c Everywhere WHITE, PINK, FLESH, CREAM Trial” Offer se box and mirror con. oes 3 supply of z )and full 38 box of Carmen Kouge (light or dark) sent prepaid Jor 2. If euly purse size box of Carmen Trowder and mirror are want. oil, send only We silver and Colors) ) 2 <<"! #00. | STAFFORD-MILLER / YY, ‘OMPA! 521 Olive St., St. Louis, Mo. Rooster: iL. pe D——p IF 1 DRESS FOR DINNER! Books Received Home to Him's Muvver, by Margaret Prescott Montague. (E. P. Dutton & Co.) The Conquest of America, by Cleveland Moffett. (Geo. H. Doran Co.) Daddy's Widow, by Margaret Barnes Price. (Broadway Publishing Co. $1.50.) Yearnings, by William Estill Phipps. (The Gorham Press, Boston, Mass.) Profiles, by Arthur Ketchum. (R. G. Badger, Boston, Mass.) mpneslstheplasure rl gourampary Me MntfsVisd uf and doun Yt Senue and Brenduny snolhevey feartgf Ai eok Lg eal ally? Acc Yek Mast Listngushat SilnHara ‘Grimey Goes Ger Gonms Vanity Fair’s Special Offer: A Six Months’ Pleasure-Party in New York for $1 You think nothing, in your poor deluded way, of spending $2 for a single theatre ticket, or for three faded gardenias, when for only $1 you can secure six issues of Vanity Fair. If you want to blossom out into a sophis- ticated New Yorker; if you want to become a regular, Class-A, 12-cyl- inder, self-starting human being, simply tear off the coupon to the left, along the perforated line, fill it out, putit in an envelope; stamp and mail it—with or without The Open Road, by Lucy E. Abel: (R G. Badger, Boston, Mass.) Two Deaths in the Bronx, by Donal Evans. (Nicholas L. Brown, Philadel phia, Pa.) » Miracles of the Laboratory, by Williax A. Jenner, A.B, (Privately printed.) The Eden Sphinx, by Annic Riley Hale (Published in New York.) Address by Elihu Root, February 13, 1916. (E. P. Dutton & Co.) The Phantom Herd, by B: M. Bower (Little, Brown & Co., Boston, Mass. $1.30.) be you like parties? If you do, then you should not lose a moment's time in accepting this invitation to a six months’ party in the heart of New York. Don't miss it! Music! Singing! Theatricals! Dancing! Evening Dress! You simply MUST come to this party for sophisticated people, as the guest of VANITY FAIR You positively won't know your- self when you get back home after that six months’ party in what is now the gayest capital of the world. And, which is much more to the point, your friends won't know you either. Your own blood relatives won't know you. They'll probably think you're some visiting European crowned head in disguise. Such aplomb! Such ease of manner, such habiliments de luxe, such wide learning, such brilliant wit, such many sided culture, and oh! such exquisite savoir faire. So just hop on to Vanity Fair's special, all-Pullman, all-anthra- cite, all-vestibuled buffet and drawing-room express,and come for a six months’ party in the heart of New York—without leav- ing your own home, and with- out spending a cent more than $1. You'll find your round-trip ticket in the opposite corner of this page ‘PETER J. CARLY, PRINTER comicbooks.com