Life, 1919-10-30 · page 29 of 36
Life — October 30, 1919 — page 29: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page is primarily **advertising and literary commentary**, not political satire. The main content is an essay titled "A Mild Suggestion" arguing that modern publishers should cut book sizes to reduce costs. The author uses **Shakespeare as an example**, noting he created compelling characters (like Juliet) despite brevity—implying modern authors could do the same rather than blaming high prices on necessity. The satirical point: The essay mockingly suggests authors like **Bernard Shaw** could improve classics like *Hamlet* by trimming them. This is tongue-in-cheek criticism of publishers' excuses for expensive books ($2.00 in this era). The page also advertises **A.A. Vantine & Co.'s Oriental gift catalog** and **Albert Payson Terhune's dog story "Lad: A Dog."** A smaller ad promotes *The Biltmore* hotel in New York. No specific political figures or contemporary events are caricatured. The humor targets the publishing industry's cost-cutting justifications rather than any particular person or movement.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
AIBERT PAYSON TERHUNE’S sympathetic, beautiful stories of LAD: A DOG For sale at all bookstores, $2.00 £ P. DUTTON & CO.. 681 Fifth Ave., N.Y. we—ch, | think thy A Mild Suggestion OST works of fiction have now gone to two dollars, and the publishers are unblushing in their dedaration that even at such a price they are hard put to it to make both ends meet One way to do this would be to cut down the size of the books by getting the already overworked authors to ription of their charac- r this could be done without detriment to modern literary art as it is still practiced in America and Great Britain is, of course, a nice question. That it has been done by previous authors, who have still con trived to make their characters live, may be something worth considering. There was a man named Shakespeare who—pre bly not knowing any d end of A reture better—did it. How much he might have added to the reality of Juliet if he had applied the method of the Bers tee ony ay toe Free Catalog of Gifts Juliet was distressingly lonely that Soming Tian nen son em« | Brings the Orient to Your Home ber mind fccused upon the trying situa- fon that confronted her. If only that ITH this beautiful book — which is mailed postpaid on request — you may nurse would stop talking, she kept saying der. in f hrouzh the B f the Far E ith leavi toheiself wearily. And Romeo! Where wander, in fancy, through the azaars Oo! the Far Last without leaving Was he? She wondered vaguely to her- your own fireside. It illustrates (many in actual colors) and describes thousands sif what he was doing She took of quaint and curious Oriental objects of art and utility imported by Vantine’s gat her wardrobe and looked it over for Chri Gifts, for Ameri i ST fae . ; P'Yes, after all, she would wear her pink or Christmas Gifts, for American homes and for your own personal use. lgiadine. She knew, vale, che . . ; —" BE REN that Write Now For Your Copy of This Beautiful Book See what an adequate expression of your Christmas sentiment may be had at “The Oriental Store’ for a few cents or a few dollars, in gifts that will be treasured always. Your name and address on a postal will do. Address Dept. 12. -A‘A:VANTINE-&-CO-Inc- FIFTH AVENUE AND 39th STREET, NEW YORK The largest Oriental store in America. Established over half a century st. James § SS SSS she looked best in pink She gazed Francisco, a at herself in the Venetian mirror. She had ffered—how she had suffered Her face showed that—the tell-tale lines forth He has a lar were already beginning to form around her dimpled mouth— And was only on his face He is clothed in a home- fourteen! spun suit of— etc omelike~ but still in the heart of thi ings “Hamlet” would, no doubt, have It will readily be seen from these a been improved by Bernard Shaw: extracts that it is dangerous on the THE E BI LTMORE SCENE 1. A large open castle. Four part of modern authors te ack to embattled towers with three feet six the primitive technique Shake inches of ivy on right. On each tower speare and other old boys of his 34-foot platform with sentry box, ete period. comicbooks.com