Life, 1918-12-05 · page 12 of 76
Life — December 5, 1918 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a **Christmas advertisement** for the Columbia Grafonola, a gramophone (record player) manufactured by Columbia Graphophone Company, New York. The ad uses idealized domestic scenes to market the device as essential home entertainment. It depicts families of different sizes enjoying music together during the holidays, emphasizing how the Grafonola brings "a new and different pleasure to every member of the household." The text promises that owning this "big, handsome" machine will provide "many happy musical years to come." Pricing is listed as Standard Models up to $700 and Period Designs up to $1,100. There's also a reference to "Buy War Savings Stamps," indicating this ad likely dates to **World War I era**, when such patriotic appeals were common in American advertising. This is straightforward product advertising, not political satire.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“CHRISTMAS LIFE- ‘Columbia dep Grafonola Ey oO S IORTUNATE are the homes the Columbia Grafonola enters. For its gift of beautiful music brings a new and different pleasure to every member of the household. Asa family entertainer, this big, handsome Grafonola is the favorite of all home folks, big and little. In your home, too, its cheery, melodious voice is surely needed —with its promise of many happy musical years to come. Columbia Grafonolas— Standard Models up to $300. Period Designs up to $2100 COLUMBIA GRAPHOPHONE COMPANY, New York Buy War “This Columbia Grafonola Savings Stamps looks mighty good to me. Let's go down town and bear it.” “It sounds even better than it looks. Can you send it home today?”