Life, 1919-10-30 · page 4 of 36
Life — October 30, 1919 — page 4: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is an editorial piece, not a cartoon, reflecting on *Life* magazine's resumption after a printing strike. The illustration shows a cupid-like figure, symbolizing the magazine's return. The text describes the staff's emotional turmoil during the strike—attempting to read job postings, feeling guilt over how they'd treated their business department, and worrying about lost subscribers. They reference feeling "gloom" and nearly losing hope, comparing their situation to biblical suffering ("Lamentations of Jeremiah"). The piece celebrates *Life's* return to print with the phrase "Obey That Impulse," urging readers to renew subscriptions as Christmas gifts. The tone is humorous self-deprecation about the staff's anxiety, while ultimately promoting the magazine's resurrection and financial recovery through holiday subscriptions.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Here We Are Again HE best laid plans, even of humble but occasionally meritorious advertising writers, sometimes go astray. Never before, in the annals of this delightful page, were we so filled with enthusiasm over the coming numbers of Lire as we were when the strike came. There was the great Christmas Number, astounding in its huge proportions, inspiring in its multifarious features (and we are happy to say that it is coming out). There was the remarkable list of Special numbers. In many subtle and ingenious ways we were going to convey to the American people (this being the open season for new sub- scribers) the idea that by sending in their yearly subscriptions at once, they would all be the gainers; they would, so to speak, get the Thing off their minds. And be- sides, what more appropriate Christmas gift could they bestow on their friends than Lire for a year? Our attractive Christmas card, which (on request) goes to every recipient, was all ready. Everything was ready. And then came the strike, and we had to take an enforced vacation. It was awful. We wandered aimlessly about in search of an occupation. We tried to read and couldn't. The Lamentations of Jeremiah failed to cheer us up. We got some fellow-feeling out of Job, but not much. Poor old Job had too good a time after all. We realize this now as never before. Bernard Shaw seemed dull and spiritless. Macbeth chirped us up a bit, but didn’t hold us. Irvin Cobb filled us with gloom and Mary Roberts Rinehart drove us to tears. Then we thought of our sins, and were filled with a horrible sense of guilt over the manner in which we had treated our business department. We realized that there was some good in these crude souls after all. We thought of all the mean things we had said about the atrocious coupon which they have forced us, no doubt with practical wisdom, to put on this otherwise artistic page. We thought of all the people we had persuaded to become subscribers in the past, and their sad faces haunted us. We tried to play golf, but the best hole we could get was an § and the caddie almost passed away with scorn. The new baby helped some. We were glad that he was too young to know what was going on. Then came the glad news that Lire was actually being printed—that it would be late but would come out. Our circulation was being restored, and-on the face of the waters we saw the words ‘Obey That Impulse.” And so, here we are again. Better subscribe and make sure of receiving every issue. Late or early, they will all be sent to our subscribers Asa holiday gift a subscription is best of all. A Christmas Card announcing the gift will be sent with each holiday subscription Oren pely tol eey : if request is made in sending the order rs TIRE AIT at ais Saat NCoTee 4 c One Year, $5.00. (Canadian, $5.52; Foreign, 8 comicbooks.coma,