Life, 1920-09-30 · page 39 of 40
Life — September 30, 1920 — page 39: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a **cigarette advertisement** disguised as humorous narrative content, a common advertising strategy in early 20th-century magazines. The story describes a man whose old car ("Lizzie," slang for Model T Ford) breaks down on a hill. Frustrated after trying mechanical fixes, he lights a Chesterfield cigarette, has a moment of clarity, tries a different approach, and the car starts. The "joke" is the punchline: smoking a cigarette somehow gave him the mental clarity to solve his problem. The ad then explicitly states the sales message—that Chesterfield smokers are confident, reliable, and "self-starters." **For modern readers:** This reflects an era when tobacco advertising could make absurd health/performance claims without restriction. The "mechanical breakdown solved by smoking" premise seems bizarre today, but the ad exploits common anxieties about automobiles (then new, unreliable technology) by suggesting cigarettes provide calm confidence in crisis. The illustrations show the protagonist struggling with the broken vehicle, then smoking triumphantly.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
With acknowledgments to K. C. B. Sure enough, the old bus went back on me In packages of 20 protected by special moisturo + proof wrapper. Also in round AIR-TIGHT tins of 50. 9 IT WAS a whale. OF A bill, and the old bus. GROANED AND shuddered. AND FINALLY stalied. AND YOU could fry eggs. ON THE radiator. WELL, WHAT I know. ABOUT BUZZ wagons. COULD BE written big. ON A postage stamp. BUT I fiddled around. AND TORE my new shirt. AND GOT all smeared up. THE ENGINE would start. BUT LIZZIE wouldn't. NOT ON that hill. SO I quit and lit up. ONE OF my cigarettes. AND THOUGHT it over. THEN | had a hunch, PUSHED HER around. PULLED A thing-a-ma-jig. ore AND THE BACKED UP the hill. blame boat. WITHOUT EVEN hesitating. SO } learned a trick. WHICH EVERY driver, SHOULD REMEMBER. WHEN IN doubt, light up. A “SATISFY” cigarette. FOR WITH one of those, GEARED TO your teeth. YOU CAN start anything. T didn’t take much persua- sion to get Chesterfields going — they're self-starters. That blend of fine Turkish and Domestic tobaccos makes friends by the millions. An- other thing— you don't find a Chesterfield smoker *‘shifting’’ brands—he’s in ‘‘high”’ all the time, CIGARETTES Kepctentpratrte comicbooks.com