Life, 1918-03-14 · page 12 of 40
Life — March 14, 1918 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page announces **Life's Title Contest** for the aviation image shown—a humorous illustration of what appears to be a man and woman in or near a small early airplane. The contest offers $800 in prizes ($500 first place) for readers to submit witty captions, with special bonus amounts for entries by soldiers and sailors. Below is a poem titled **"A Sailor Song"** attributed to W. O. Miller and marked "(Passed by the Censor)." The poem humorously describes an unnamed sailor waiting for an unnamed girl in an unnamed port on an unnamed day—a comedic exercise in repetitive vagueness, likely satirizing wartime censorship restrictions that prevented publication of specific military locations and personnel details during World War I.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
412 Life’s Title Contest For the best title to the picture on this page Lire will award prizes as follows: First Prize, . . Second Prize, . $200.00 Third Prize,.. . $100.00 With Special Prizes for Soldiers and Sailors The contest will be governed by the following $500.00 CONDITIONS Contestants are advised to read these con: ditions fully, and to conform to th exactly. dertake to enter into corres} € oF to reply to inquiries. By “best” is understood that title which most cleverly and briefly de- scribes the situation shown in the pi ture, No title submitted shall consist of more than twenty-five words. Hyphen- ated words will be counted as one. Contestants may send in more than one answer, but each one must be on a separate sheet, with name and address plainly written. The contest is open to everybody. In case a prize is won by a Soldier or Sailor $100.00 extra will be added to the first prize, $50.00 extra to the sec- ond and $23.00 extra to the third. By the term Soldier and Sailor is meant ‘one, no matter what the rank, in the uniformed forces of the United States government. In case of any dispute as to the status of a winning contestant under these terms the Editors of Lire will be the sole judges. But a liberal interpretation will be placed on the conditions. The contest is now open. It will close at noon on May 6, 1918, no manu- scripts received after that time being considered. All manuscripts should be addressed to the Contest Editor of Lire, 17 West Thirty-first Street, New York. velopes addressed in any other way will not be considered. Envelopes must contain nothing but the competing title and the name and address of the send- er, plainly written, all on the same sheet. If you have anything else to say to Lire, send it in a separate letter. The Editors will not be responsible for Dati wie ty lists = For the Best Title to this Picture $800 will be given in Prizes conditions om this pay the loss of manuscripts. Contestants are advised to keep duplicate copies No manuscripts will be returned, Titles may be original or may be a quotation from some well-known author, but in this case the source must be accurately given. It is not necessary to be a subscriber to Lire to be a contestant. In case of ties the full amount of the prize will be given to each tying con- testant. The final award will be announced as early as possible after the close of the contest. Of this due notice will be given. Checks will be sent simultane- ously with the announcements of the award, The carlier you send your title the better. In previous contests many ar- rived too late. A Sailor Song (Passed by the Censor) [X a unnamed port by an unnamed sea There's an unnamed girl who waits for me; But soon on an unnamed day I'll trip To this unnamed girl on an unnamed ship, And then we'll hie to an unnamed spot, Where an unnamed parson will tie the knot, And then I'll give her a name, by Jove, No ——— ———* censor will ever remove! W. OQ. Miller. ("Deleted by censor.)