Life, 1920-08-26 · page 36 of 36
Life — August 26, 1920 — page 36: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a **tobacco advertisement**, not political satire. The illustration shows three men examining or discussing a pipe, drawn in a sketch style signed "Al Leone Barchet 1920." The ad's message uses folk-style verse to argue that wrinkles from smiling (caused by happiness) are preferable to worry lines. It then promotes Velvet pipe tobacco as naturally inducing contentment and good cheer. The copywriting emphasizes the product's smooth taste from Kentucky barley aged in wooden casks for two years. The appeal is to masculine fellowship and good humor—smoking Velvet will make you smile naturally, improve your mood, and spread goodwill. The final line suggests that more pipes and laughter would improve society generally. This reflects early 20th-century advertising that openly promoted tobacco's mood-enhancing and social benefits, before health warnings existed.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Of wrinkles on men's faces, thar's but two important styles, The ones that's made from worries, an’ the ones that's made from smiles. The first won't get you anywhar; the other kind impart Good cheer to falks around you, and kee> you:h within your heart. pote fo Fill your pipe with Velvet, that smoothest of America’s tobaccos. Light up, lean back! And get that fragrant arama while you're enjoying the mellow, good old taste of Kentucky's ‘‘heart-leaf’’ Burley. Now try to frown! You can’t do it. You just naturally smile, contentedly, Nature built that content- ment into Velvet during its two years ageing in wooden hogsheads. A little more good fellowship—a few more pipes of Velvet—a few more laughs, and this old world would wag the better. Liccert & Myers Tosacco Co. Cmerica's smoothest smoke comicbooks.comi}