Life, 1917-11-01 · page 3 of 38
Life — November 1, 1917 — page 3: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is primarily a **tobacco advertisement** for Velvet pipe tobacco, not political satire. The page features two illustrated scenes: 1. **Top illustration**: An elderly bearded man (likely representing a satisfied customer) examining a package of Velvet tobacco by lamplight. 2. **Bottom illustration**: Two hunting dogs resting, accompanying a poem attributed to "Velvet Joe" about loyalty and gratitude. The advertisement's central claim is that Velvet tobacco improves through two years of aging in wooden "hogsheads," becoming "mild and mellow" with Kentucky Burley tobacco flavor. The dog poem serves as emotional branding—associating the product with loyalty and patience, suggesting Velvet rewards those who appreciate quality. This reflects early 20th-century advertising that used sentiment and lifestyle imagery rather than direct product claims.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
OME say that the world is ungrateful An’ often pays evil for good— I reckon they ain’t raised tobacco and dogs, Or treated the same as they should. For age-mellowed Velvet will mo’ than repay All that patience an’ care can expend, An’ the bow-legged puppy some day is a dog That would lay down his life for his friend. TME is money—two years that Velvet spends slowly ageing in | huge wooden hogsheads represents a | heavy expenditure. But how richly Nature repays that investment. Those two years make Velvet mild and mellow, cool and smooth, and bring out the flavor of the rich Kentucky Burley tobacco to its utmost. Fill your pipe with Velvet and let it prove what we can only tell. Liggett < Myers Tobacco Cx comicbooks.com