Life, 1918-11-07 · page 4 of 36
Life — November 7, 1918 — page 4: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page is primarily a **subscription solicitation** disguised as editorial content, urging readers to purchase Life magazine subscriptions as Christmas gifts. The **bottom cartoon** depicts a man labeled "REPUTATION" being crushed under a heavy log. The caption reads: "Go on and smile if you want to; certainly—that's what you bought Life for—BUT, would yours fit?" The **satire targets Life's readers themselves**: the implication is that Life magazine's humor and satirical content appeal to people's desire to appear sophisticated and witty in social settings. The crushing weight suggests the burden or strain of maintaining such a reputation through reading—a self-aware joke about the magazine's own cultural positioning as arbiter of educated taste and humor during this era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Coming! We Are Now Beginning To grow warm. This is because Christmas is rapidly approaching. We are about to make a moving appeal for you to take out an annual subscription to this delightful paper, so be prepared in advance for the horrid financial details—represented on this page by the sordid-looking coupon which you will see hereabouts. We want you, first, to send Lire for one year as a Christmas present to everybody on your list, even the boy overseas—the more the merrier. Second, we would suggest that you also sub- scribe at once for yourself. When we receive from you the necessary amount, we will joyfully enter your order on our books, and the recipients will begin to be happy immedi- ately thereafter. Don’t wait. Obey that impulse at once, so your sub- scription can start with the large double Christmas number, to be issued the first week in December. Lire’s circulation is constantly ad- vancing. We are read by so many sub- -scribers and weekly buyers all over the world now that we are almost ashamed Fe Lae brane Se ese Pole to look anyone in the face. But it makes us act a little better. You can always do better before a full house. Next week—‘‘The Irish of It’’?— on the cover. Extract from a letter, one among many, received LIFE, 17 West 31st Street, New York. 66 from the Western Front: “1 am glad to say the Y. M. Z C. A. here is receiving a number of copies of Lire One Year, $5.00. (Canadian, $5.52; Foreign, $6.04. ) occasionally through the A. L. A. for distribution gmong the boys at the hospital, and it is a great favorite.” Go on and smile if you want to, certainly —that’s what you bought Life for —BUT, would yours fit? comicbooks.com