Life, 1921-12-01 · page 33 of 58
Life — December 1, 1921 — page 33: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satirical article mocks an emerging commercial trend: giving Christmas gift certificates or "cards" redeemable at department stores instead of purchasing actual gifts. **The Satire:** The piece feigns approval of this "efficient" system while exposing its absurdity. It shifts all the inconvenience from the giver (who traditionally struggled through crowded stores) to the *receiver*, who must now visit stores to redeem vague vouchers. The author projects this logic forward humorously—imagining "Christmas ticket agencies" that function like stock exchanges, and post-holiday "clearing houses" where recipients can resell unwanted gift cards. **The Cartoon:** Shows Santa arriving by car (a modern touch) rather than sleigh, emphasizing how commercialization has transformed Christmas into efficient business transactions. **Historical Context:** This targets 1920s-era department store marketing that promoted gift certificates as convenient, modern solutions—a predecessor to today's gift card culture. The satire suggests such "efficiency" strips Christmas of genuine personal thoughtfulness.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
ANTA CLAUS is being taught ef- ficiency. “Merry Christmas for Arthur from Aunt Emmaline. This card is good for a $3.50 derby hat at Rothenberg’s Em- porium.” “Yuletide greetings to Mar- got from Cousin Ned. This card may be exchanged for a $4.98 pair of Never- wear silk stockings at the Bon Ton Bazaar.” An admirable system. Not only does it ease Santa’s burden, but it saves the ordinary Christmas donor from the necessity of shopping. In fact it puts all the bother on the person who re- ceives the gift. Truly, the merchants who invented the Say-it-with-paste- boards scheme have evolved something that eliminates all waste motion. No longer need the cheerful giver struggle home on Christmas Eve a bat- tered wreck buffeted in a thousand mystic aisles of department stores, laden with a lawnmower for Father, a fireless cooker for Mother and, amid a toppling stack of parcels, a precious “Aw! Git a reindeer!” Last a Painless Christmas Lawton Mackall package for Her, rescued from the gutter three times already (it, not she) —all to be painfully unpacked, unprice- marked and underweared in tissue and ribbon late that night. Such ordeals are out of date. He does the trick with a few cards. To be sure, the system is not yet fully developed. At present one still has to order cards from the individual stores. But undoubtedly there will soon be Christmas ticket agencies, on the order of Tyson’s and McBride's, where one will be able to buy cards for reserved gifts at all the best shops. The busy woman will be able to call up and say, “I want two for a nephew of twenty-eight.” “Well, we can let you have a pair of cuff-links at Spiffany’s or a pair of slippers at Lord & Altman’s.” And after Christmas the pasteboard clearing houses and cut-rate offices will do a thriving business. “Embroidered suspenders from Aunt Mathilda, quoted at 28 cents.” “1 necktie, female selec- tion, and box of Flor de Guano In- vincibles, offered in exchange for 1 sack Bull Durham.” With sleigh transportation as high as it is, it ought to be quite a relief to Santa to travel light, with only a neat little pack, as he makes his rounds of the Christmas card tables. The lucky recipients can start the New Year with a postponed Yuletide rush, Skirt 4 la Mode OMAN of show, In plumage she is strong, But spreads it only from chapeau To waistline. Hence the song: She wants but little gear below Nor wants that little long. dress makes lavish Potite Pepper (to small boy swing- ing on gate): Little boy, is your mother engaged? LittLe Boy: Come in and I will see. I think she is married. comicbooks.com