Life, 1920-11-04 · page 14 of 60
Life — November 4, 1920 — page 14: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a straightforward **advertisement**, not political satire. It promotes Community plate silverware, specifically a fork designed for serving sliced poultry, cold meats, and fish. The ad appeals to socially conscious women concerned with "correct service" and proper table etiquette—anxieties about class status that were common in early-20th-century America. The fork is marketed as solving embarrassing dining problems: preventing crushed or broken food when serving fish, and providing "dainty and correct service." The elaborate table setting in the central image, with floral centerpiece and decorative tablecloth, reinforces aspirational upper-class domesticity. The price ($5.50 in an unlined gift case) targets middle-class consumers seeking to appear refined through proper tableware.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
of he Serbice of For serving Jellied Chicken, Sliced Fowl and Meats, the woman who is Sliced Fowl, critical about her table appointments has adopted this broad-bladed Fork Cold Meats, ~a Community piece—for dainty and correét service. % Or if there is a Fish, 62 tender bit of Fisk to be served hot or cold—she finds the sharp edges of this Fork excellent to divide the delicate meat, and its blade a welcome relief from the embarrassment of serving Fish all crushed and broken. One will find, indeed, many other dishes for which this Fork is net only praétical but neces- sary—as Salads, Asparagus, and Macaroni or Spaghetti. Oxerpa Community, Led. ° each in CUelvet-lineds