Life, 1919-03-27 · page 38 of 44
Life — March 27, 1919 — page 38: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes the mail-order self-improvement industry popular in early 20th-century America. "Correspondence Clarence" is a fictional character who epitomizes the "rags-to-riches through mail coupons" fantasy. The satire depicts him transforming from a broke, sickly failure into a wealthy, accomplished man simply by ordering various correspondence courses—stenography, memory training, personality development, public speaking, and even digestive health ("Perfect Eating"). The joke mocks both the unrealistic promises of these mail courses (learning Spanish in five lessons, acquiring a "dominating personality" for salary increases) and the desperation of people who bought them, hoping personal transformation arrived by postman. The cartoon below shows an adult and child at a fruit stand; the reformer's son wants bananas but his mother forbids it—a gentler joke about children's appetites versus parental control.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Correspondence Clarence At well you may hold your breath! There goes Cor. respondence Clarence. Radiating personality, exe fying opulence, he’s the greatest of them all Knew him when he was down and out, sickly, discour- aged, couldn't even buy gas for the family flivver out and mailed the little coupon, though, one night was the turning point of his life. He has a wonderful memory. Knows ten thousan! peo. ple by sight and name. Why, his “first lesson absolutely doubled his memory power.” ° Character expert, too. He learned character-rea sight, “the whole secret in seven fascinating lesson One of his first steps was to eater a new profession Stenography he chose—" one hundred to one hundr 4 fifty words a minute in thirty days, guaranteed.” But that method of climbing out of the rut was to. slow for the suddenly developing Correspondence Clarer So he tore off another coupon and “acquired a dominating STARCHED OR SOFT THE personality—increased his salary from thirty dollars «4 one f thousand dollars a week.” I His health had been neglected, but that was cured in | | turn, The postman brought “a new stomach for old in dL forty-eight hours.” Perfected Eating did it. IS A DEFaN DABLE He is a leader in every line. Knows “exactly how to INDICATOR OFA say the right thing at the right time, under all conditions SMART SATISFACTORY and in the most effective way.” Learned “the secret of good talking in one evening. Spanish in five lesson ¢ world’s literature—but in the time it would take for me to tell you of all his accomplishments you could learn t O d r he just like him. He has boiled down all his knowledge 1g at into a super-course. The postman delivers the lesson tl first thing in the morning. You read it casually shaving. In one week the world is your oyster. Tear « coupon. It is just people like you, who need the most, that hesitate, procrastinate and forget. Do it» Cluett, Peabody & Co., Inc., Makers, Troy, N. Y. Shirtings Guaranteed Quality Shirtings for Discriminating Dressers Obtainable in the Best Shops Alanufactured by David 6 John Anderson. Utd. Kindly Gentleman: w. Son of Professional Reformer: YES, BUT MA WON'T LET ME FAT 'EM—SHE DOESN'T LIKE 'EM. Comicbooks.com