Life, 1919-07-10 · page 37 of 50
Life — July 10, 1919 — page 37: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page combines literary satire with tobacco advertising. "The Ballad of Reading Matter" is a humorous poem parodying Oscar Wilde's "The Ballad of Reading Gaol." The joke: a commuter on a train desperately seeks *any* readable newspaper but encounters only foreign-language publications (Greek, Polish text visible) and eventually a publication so objectionable he'd sworn never to read it—the punchline being that boredom makes even distasteful reading appealing. The accompanying Velvet Tobacco advertisement co-opts this narrative, using a fishing-themed illustration where a man claims he wants fish that "bite" and tobacco that doesn't. The ad explains that Velvet's quality comes from proper aging, eliminating the harsh "bite" inferior tobaccos produce. The integration of literary humor with product messaging was typical of Life magazine's advertising approach—using entertainment to sell products. By modern standards, the casual tobacco promotion to a general audience (including implied younger readers) would be unthinkable.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The Ballad of Reading Matter O* day, one gentle day of spring, | sat upon a train, And marked the swallows on the wing With numb, unbalanced brain, For { had done a hideous thing, Which I will now explain. \t carly dawn that lovely day, Beside a flickering taper, ] robed myself in brave array, With eye and heart a-caper. | Then, IDIOT! I rushed away Without my morning paper! Before me crouched a traveling gent, Bush-browed and triple-neck'd, O'er whose unconscious bulk I bent, This headline to detect: | SIPTPD TOS IB|YD Or words to that effect. Abashed, I stole a backward glance, In hopes that I should see A Times, a Tribu r, perchance, A Sun—Ah, miserie! | DIAZOXI£ TETPAKOZION Was more than Greek to me. \ youth beside me sweetly dozed, Whose paper, loosely held, 1 deftly filched while he reposed, Whereat my soul rebelled. -| PRZEWODNICZACY PIEKARSKI 1 read—or rather, yelled. \\ My neighbors fled in wild retreat, Save one of Saxon breed, Who, calmly rising from his seat, | Made offer of a screed. O Death! It was a saffron sheet I'd sworn I'd never read. George S. Chappell. HOW ONE OF THE NEIGHBOR'S CHILDREN APPEARS TO YOU IN YOUR GARDEN Copyright, 119, Liggett & Myers Tobacco Ce. “Same here—When I go fishin’ I want fish that bite, and tobacco that don’t.”’ ated “Bite” in tobacco comes either from poor leaf or wrong “ripening.” We use for VELVET only the finest, silkiest Kentucky Burley. But we don’t stop there. We put the tobacco away in wooden hogsheads for two years—for Nature to pa- tiently ripen and mellow. The VELVET way costs more —but it makes the friendlier kind of tobacco. No bite, no kick, no harshness—just friendly. Open a tin of VELVET. You will find it just right—“good enough to eat.” TOBACCO CICCETT eauy ene