Life, 1920-10-21 · page 4 of 44
Life — October 21, 1920 — page 4: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page is primarily a **subscription appeal disguised as editorial content**. The headline "Don't Read This Page Any More" uses reverse psychology—the editors ask readers to stop reading to avoid seeing advertising, then confess the real purpose: soliciting subscriptions. The top illustration shows a figure holding up a "LIFE" globe to a crowd, likely representing the magazine's aspirational mission to reach and inform the public. The lower cartoon depicts a small figure pointing to subscription information, emphasizing the call-to-action. The text acknowledges readers' likely skepticism about the magazine's motives, essentially admitting that Life occasionally uses manipulative tactics to secure subscriptions while claiming their actual editorial mission is noble and worthwhile. It's a self-aware pitch attempting humor and honesty as persuasion tactics.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Don’t Read This Page Any More W nave decided, after much deliberation, to ask you not to read this page any more. The fact is that the difficulty in trying to make everybody understand that this is not an advertising page, is too great. But the matter is largely one of conscience, and for this reason we feel that we ought to make some attempt to make ourselves clear. The superficial mind, seeing that we occasionally ask people to subscribe, and that we per- mit the Business Office to run the coupon which appears in the corner, assumes that we are trying to inveigle a lot of people into sending in their good money. And a lot of people do. We cannot help this. It appears to be unavoidable. But we despair in trying to make it clear that our only object in writing this pa because we ean idea. Or perhaps we should say a theme. This theme is Lire, a very dear to us personally. It is one of the members of our family. It gets off the key at times and—frankly—bores us. Sometimes it is obstreperous, and has tantrums. But its inten- tions are so admirable, and its soul is so worth saving, that we have come to love it. When we write about it, therefore, we feel towards it very much like a fairly nice child that is up- stairs when company comes, and that we ought not to drag down and exhibit too much, or dilate too much upon its handsome qualities. When we do this, we do it only to our close friends—friends of the family. ow the new people, who don’t know us, must get the idea that we are trying to advertise this paper. It is probably our fault that they feel that way. That is why we ask you to stop reading us—unless, of course, you understand There are a few who do understand. Bless them; when we say, “Obey that impulse,” they know what we mean. But suppose this is the first copy of Lire that you have ever seen if you can imagine such a thing. Suppose you take advantage of our apparently vulgar and purely commercial invitation, and do send in a dollar or so just for luck. Don't you see that we have misled you? Not about taking the paper, but about our intentions? So don't read this page any more, if you think it is an advertising page. It is a Lire page. And, as this is the last time you may read it, we warn you right now that the next number is pretty poor. We have just been over it in advance, and we wouldn't give it house room. It ought to be spanked and put to bed. Special Offer Open only to new subscribers; no subscriptions renewed at this F: LIFE, 17 West 31st Street, New York, closed find One Dollar (Canadian Foreign $1.40). Send Lire for three me (twelve issues) to Grrr r rrr conn cnn renee ee ee One Year, $5.00. (Canadian, $5.50 ; Foreign, $6.60) comicbooks. Soul