Life, 1920-10-07 · page 9 of 56
Life — October 7, 1920 — page 9: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page is primarily **advertising, not satire or political commentary**. It's a full-page advertisement for Raybestos brake lining, a genuine automotive product from The Raybestos Company (factories in Bridgeport, Connecticut and Peterborough, Canada). The visual humor is commercial rather than satirical: a stylized pile of automobile tires with decorative text reading "Roulette" and "Brake Lining" curves around it. The pun suggests buying inferior brake lining is like gambling with your safety—hence the roulette imagery. The copy emphasizes durability ("built to WEAR like a strip of iron") and offers a one-year wear guarantee, positioning Raybestos as the reliable choice versus cheaper alternatives. This is straightforward product advertising typical of early 20th-century *Life* magazine.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
BRAKE LIRUING Look for the Silver Edge >... SP one, _ 2 a >) 10 a, s Pe HEN you buy brake lining you want just one thing— long, sturdy WEAR at the brakes. Lining that does not WEAR well isa loss at any cost. You pay to put iton and you pay again toripitout. Raybestos is built to WEAR like a strip of iron. Every fibre of Raybestos, all the way through, is treated to insure Raybestos WEAR. We guarantee Raybestos to WEAR One Year. THE RAYBESTOS COMPANY Factories: BRIDGEPORT, CONN.. PETERBOROUGH, CA Branches: Detroit, 979 Woodward Ave. San Francisco, 1403 Ch Chicago, 1402 So. Michigan Ave. | Washington, D. C., 107 Colum comicbooks.com