Life, 1920-04-29 · page 40 of 40
Life — April 29, 1920 — page 40: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is primarily a **tobacco advertisement**, not political satire. The page shows three men in suits and hats examining what appears to be a map or document, with the headline "On the 5:15" (referring to a commuter train). The ad promotes **Velvet brand pipe tobacco** by suggesting that smoking it transforms the evening commute home into a pleasant experience. The copy uses folksy language ("Velvet Joe," "kindly Velvet") and emphasizes the product's Kentucky origin and aging process to establish quality and refinement. The three figures appear to be generic businessmen of the 1920s era, not specific caricatures of identifiable individuals. The "joke" is simply that Velvet tobacco makes the daily grind enjoyable—a common advertising trope of the period that associates a consumer product with improved mood and social ease. The page reflects early 20th-century attitudes when tobacco advertising in mainstream magazines was routine and uncontroversial.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
On the 5:5 “It's a short run and a merry one” when Velvet is timekeeper. Let a man relax between office and home with a brier-load or two of kindly Velvet and just watch the good-humor ooze with him right in through the front door! It couldn't be otherwise. Velvet had sunshine grown into it down in old Kentucky —America’s tobacco wonderland. Then it was mellowed into mild- ness by its two years’ ageing in wooden hogsheads. And with that teal Nature-made tobacco fragrance circulating ‘round them—when they get the aroma and smoothness of Kentucky's prize Burley, you bet every man will say: “The 5:15 is just a pleasure excursion every day.” But as Velvet Joe says: “A page of argufyin’ can’t talk to- bacco sense to you like your little old friend pipe.” Pass the Velvet! Kipgettrdizsrs laces, comicbooks.com