Life, 1917-11-29 · page 4 of 40
Life — November 29, 1917 — page 4: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page combines an advertisement for Life magazine subscriptions with a poignant letter to Santa Claus. The illustration shows a young girl reading or writing letters, with ghostly figures of suffering children hovering above her—likely representing war orphans. The letter, signed "Dot," expresses difficulty writing a cheerful Christmas message to Santa while thinking of "all these babies in France and all the poor war children all over." This references World War I's humanitarian crisis and the suffering of European civilian populations, particularly children. The advertisement positions Life's upcoming Christmas issue as offering comfort during wartime hardship. The juxtaposition suggests Life magazine positioned itself as providing meaningful content during a time of global suffering, connecting consumer entertainment to charitable consciousness.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Dear Santa Claus: Somehow I can’t write the kind of a letter to you that I want to this Christmas. I’ve tried and tried and tried, but nothing seems to suit me. I really don't want you to send me much this year, Santa. Because, somehow, when I think of all these babies in France and all the poor war chil- dren all over, I just really can’t. “Maybe when the Christmas Num- ber of LiFe comes out next week I'll feel better. Ever your friend, Dot. There is only one ife to read. That is the great double Christmas Number, coming next week, and the others which will follow it every Tuesday for the next fifty-two weeks, at a cost to regular subscribers of—(See the atrocious coupon below). The Christmas Number is in- cluded in subscriptions that com- mence December Ist. dini the den Sie Enclosed find One Dol lar (Canadian $1,134 Foreign $2.26). “Send Lire for three months to fh / Open. only to new subscribers; no sub scriptions renewed at this rate, y LIFE, 17 West 31st Street, New York. 18 “ One Year, $5.00. (Canadian, $5.52; Foreign, $6.04.)