Life, 1919-05-29 · page 35 of 42
Life — May 29, 1919 — page 35: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satirical sketch mocks the early 20th-century craze for self-help and pseudoscientific "personal magnetism" books. A disheveled man named Wilberforce becomes obsessed with *The Mystery of Personal Magnetism*, which promises readers can project their "aura" to control others through breathing techniques and mental willpower. The joke: he practices on innocent bystanders with hilariously disastrous results—a woman slaps him at church, a ticket agent short-changes him. The cartoon ridicules both the absurd pseudoscience and the gullible reader who expects actual supernatural results. The accompanying **Rubberset Brush advertisement** uses Admiral Von Tirpitz (a famous German naval commander) to humorously suggest the brushes are tough enough to withstand submarines—capitalizing on wartime anxiety while selling an everyday product. The testimonial letter from a naval engineer adds false credibility to the exaggerated claim.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
HERE, YOU SWINDLEK! Ol 1 ROUGHT Was ONLY ALK PROM THE STATION ! A Modern Monarch X rshed Wilberforce, breathing fierce wildly, arms waving, © world is wrong?” I de- for the fire-extin- han you "—pufl—* I to act “—puff, puff— m to the wall, ¢ him into coherency, © book out of his hand and the title, The Mystery of Personal 1 Fully Explained, or How to nother’s Will, by Prof. M. Stic thing to do with your 1, releasing him warily. practicing on you— eam exhaust and the persisted sternly , the book says,” and he read. ben you are excited you breathe When you breathe hard your are Nof enersy. Therefore simulate ex © proper breath-rhythm, od you w absorb energy and mag CANTRELL & COCHRANE THE STANDARD Ginger Ale OF Two CONTINENTS Order by the dozen for use at home Who's RUBBERSET | Brush isn’t! RUBB LATHER ah Boy! “Page” Admiral | Von. aia! — ; atraid of Submarines? This y ERSET PAIN fora BRUSHES snc every bristle gripped EVERLASTINGLY in hard rubber! ism from the air... . Project the tism from your body and from your mind, weaving the two her like the strands of a thread, and your per sonal aura will reach ont and overpower whomsoever you will’ “And have you tried this on anyone else?” “Well, yes,” sheepishly, “1 projected my aura toward Nettie Burns, sitting next to me at church last night, repeat ing, ‘You feel like doing as I wish you to do; look at me’—just as the book says. nly turned around and slapped my “T tried to energize my aura with xood-will at the box office last 1, but the ticket man gave me a seat behind a post short-changed me four dollars, So I thought I'd better practice at home.” Out he went to subdue an innocent world, jaw set, brow wrinkled as if in pain, eyes popping out, and breathing like a calliope,