Life, 1920-07-01 · page 9 of 56
Life — July 1, 1920 — page 9: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page is primarily **advertising, not satire or political commentary**. It promotes the Estey Organ Company's residential pipe organ product. The advertisement uses evocative imagery: a darkened living room with figures silhouetted around a glowing pipe organ, creating an atmosphere of refined home entertainment. The text argues that a pipe organ brings orchestral music into the home, claiming it provides "the music of orchestras, played only as orchestras can play it." The pitch emphasizes luxury and cultural sophistication—positioning organ ownership as aspirational for middle to upper-class households. The Estey company lists multiple locations (Vermont, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles), suggesting national reach during the early 20th century when such organs were status symbols for affluent homes.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE ESTEY RESIDENCE PIPE ORGAN All the pleasure you are able to get out of music is deepened by hearing that music played on the pipe organ. And all that pleasure is enhanced when the pipe organ is your own, installed in your home, to be played at your command. It gives from its tremen- dous storchouse of harmonies as easily as the sim- plest music box. But the music it gives is the music of orchestras, played only as orchestras can play it, for the organ is really an orchestra. Its sets of pipes are each a separate instrument, the mingling of which under the leadership of a skillful conductor is what makes the symphony orchestra what it is. The Estey Perforated Rolls give you the skillful conducting, and the Estey Organ gives you the orchestra's instruments. Tue Estey Orcan Comp. Brattleboro, Vermont ; Studios in New York, 11 Wi s ; Philac : Walnut 0, t; Los comicbooks.com