Life, 1920-10-14 · page 44 of 44
Life — October 14, 1920 — page 44: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is primarily a **cigarette advertisement**, not a political cartoon. It appears in *Life* magazine (October 14, date unclear) and promotes Pall Mall's "Rounds" cigarettes. The ad features a fictional "Capt. X" who supposedly invented a round, loosely-rolled cigarette made from Turkish tobacco blends. The marketing angle emphasizes convenience—it doesn't require tapping, squeezing, or loosening like traditional cigarettes, offering instead an easy draw. The imagery shows the product alongside an ashtray and matches. The tagline "They Are Good Taste" appeals to sophistication. There is **no satirical political content** here—this is straightforward commercial advertising using a fictional inventor narrative to market a product innovation. The "success" referenced is commercial success for the cigarette brand.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
-LIFE- A Success—Capt. X’s Idea PALL MAL FAMOUS CIGARETTE! ounds Capt. X’s big idea—a round cigarette, loosely rolled, made from the famous PALL MALL blend of 42 dif ferent kinds of Turkish tobacco. A cigarette that does not have to be ta ped, squeezed or loosened—a cigarette with a free and easy draught. Plain ends. “Read the story of Capt. X.” “They Are Good Taste” PALL MALL ROUNDS (plain 20. PALL HATE ROUNDS (okie 508 PALL MALL (REGULAR) PLAIN OR CORK, IN BOXES OF 10, 50, 100 AS USUA comicbooksfeonl