Life, 1920-12-02 · page 95 of 97
Life — December 2, 1920 — page 95: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is **not a political cartoon but a Christmas advertisement** for Sheaffer pens and pencils, disguised as editorial content in the satirical magazine *Life*. The "joke" is the exaggerated, breathlessly grateful monologue from a woman receiving a pen-and-pencil set as a gift. She gushes that the fountain pen eliminates her "excuse for not writing" and that the mechanical pencil solves the "dreadful" problem of sharpening—playing on stereotypical feminine complaints. The satire is gentle and self-aware: *Life* is mocking both the overwrought gratitude expected in advertising copy and the triviality of the "problems" marketed products solve. The woman's rapturous tone—treating writing implements as romantic gifts worthy of elaborate praise—is the humor. This represents early 20th-century advertising practice: companies paid magazines to run ads styled as editorial features, blurring the line between content and commerce in ways modern readers would recognize as deceptive.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
-CHRISTMAS LIFE: HEAFFER’S | PENCIL ‘OU come to me at Christmasoutrivaling in your sagacity the Wise Men of the East, for you know full well that in giving me this adorable Suearrer Fountain Pen you leave me no excuse for not writing to you often. As for its lovely mate in this cunning ‘Giftie Box’—the Suearrer Sharp Point Pencil—I, like all women who detest sharpening a pencil, ** The . Giftie i i \ Set”? coves onitcips a have wanted one of these ready companions. How did you know? And how did you guess that I have fairly coveted the Suearrer Pen and Pencil above all others because they are so mechanically perfect and so symmetrical and beautiful?” W. A. SHEAFFER PEN CO., 231 Sheaffer Bldg., Fort Madison, la. New York Chicago Kansas City Denver San Francisco Giftie Set illustrated, No. 2R, Rolled Gold, $16.00; No. 3R, Solid Gold, $68.00. Other attractive styles on display at better stores everywhere comicbooks.com