Life, 1920-12-02 · page 88 of 97
Life — December 2, 1920 — page 88: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a **cigarette advertisement** disguised as humorous content from Life magazine. The "cartoon" is actually an extended joke setup promoting Chesterfield cigarettes. **The Setup:** Professor Haskins is an absent-minded academic who absent-mindedly continues shaving his entire face instead of just his neck, and habitually confuses his cigarettes with burnt matches. **The Punchline:** When he shows his students a tube of radium (a "marvelous substance"), he accidentally pulls out a Chesterfield cigarette instead and asks what distinguishes it from all others. The class answers: "They Satisfy!"—which is the advertiser's slogan. **The Satire:** The joke mocks both the professor's absentmindedness and plays on period advertising claims that cigarettes could "satisfy" desires. By framing the advertisement as a funny anecdote, it makes the product pitch feel like entertainment rather than commercial messaging. This reflects early 20th-century advertising practices before regulations restricted cigarette claims.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
*CHRISTMAS LIFE- With acknowledgments to K. C. B, Every man in the class knew the answer In packages of 20 protected by special moisture- proof wrapper. Also in round AIR -TIGHT tins of 50. ¢ PROFESSOR HASKINS., eee WAS A Kindly soul. BRIGHT ON some subjects. BUT SO absent-minded. THAT ONE day at the barber's, HE TOOK off his collar. TO GET shaved. AND FORGOT where he was, AND KEPT right on. TILL THE cash-girl screamed. AND A barber stopped him. HE WAS a great smoker, BUT HE'D often put. THE BURNT match in his mouth. AND THROW away. THE CIGARETTE. HIS STUDENTS loved him. HE WAS so full, OF FUNNY surprises. ONE DAY he had a tube, OF RADIUM and he told. THE STUDENTS all about it, AND FINALLY, by mistake, ° INSTEAD OF the tube. HE PULLED out one. OF HIS cigarettes. AND ASKED the class, “WHAT Is the one thing. WHICH DISTINGUISHES. THIS MARVELOUS substance, FROM ALL others on earth?” AND THE class roared. “THEY SATISFY.” * V HAT is it you've always wanted a cigarette to do? You know the answer. Chesterfields do it—they not only please your taste, they satisfy! It’s all in the blend ——a secret blend of fine Turk- ish and Domestic tobaccos. It puts Chesterfields where none can touch them for quality and value. comicbooks.com