Life, 1920-08-12 · page 33 of 44
Life — August 12, 1920 — page 33: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is primarily a **product advertisement**, not political satire. The sketch at the top depicts a crowd of men, likely representing "regular men" adopting the new Gillette safety razor. **The "joke"** is a mild play on the headline's phrasing: "All Regular Men finally come to the Right Thing"—meaning they've adopted Gillette blades. The ad emphasizes the revolutionary convenience: previously, men needed to manually sharpen ("strop" and "hone") straight razors before each shave. Gillette's disposable blade eliminates this tedious maintenance. **Historical context**: This represents early 20th-century advertising celebrating modern convenience and efficiency—themes that resonated with consumers tired of labor-intensive grooming rituals. The extensive international dealer list indicates Gillette's global market dominance. The page contains no political commentary or social satire—it's straightforward marketing dressed in Life magazine's characteristic visual style.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
ONSIDER the tremendous progress that has been made in shaving methods within the last generation. Until the invention of the Gillette, no man ever dared to shave without stropping his razor before every shave. Today, twenty million men never think of stropping and honing their razor blades. Finding the Gillette blade a finer edge than they ever got with stropping or honing. Shave after All Regular Men finally come to the Right Thing shave with the same blade—and putting in a new blade once ina while. The complete and final solution to all their shaving problems. It is the keenest, most lasting, most economical shaving edge ever produced. There are two hundred and fifty thousand Gillette Dealers in this country. And among their most friendly customers are the men who come in regu- larly to get Gillette Blades, No Stropping—No Honing Gillette =a Boston Canadian Factory: 73 St. Alexander St. New York Chicago Milan Saloniki Port Elizabeth Rio de Janeiro Sydney Shanghai Copenhagen Amsterdam San Francisco London Singapore Calcutta Geneva Buenos Aires Montreal, Quebec Madrid Brussels Tokyo comicbooks.com