Life, 1922-11-09 · page 35 of 36
Life — November 9, 1922 — page 35: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is primarily **a corporate advertisement**, not political satire. The Statler hotel chain is promoting its expansion and brand philosophy across multiple cities (Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, St. Louis, Boston, and New York). The illustration shows a telephone operator—a common female profession of the era—speaking directly to readers. The accompanying text is a first-person testimonial from this operator, explaining the Statler company's service philosophy: patience, courtesy, and helpfulness despite communication challenges when working "by ear" without seeing customers. The advertisement's rhetorical strategy is to personify corporate values through an individual worker's voice, positioning Statler hotels as places where professional service standards are maintained. The "largest hotel in the world" claim and emphasis on standardized service codes reflect early 20th-century corporate modernization and systematization. This is brand messaging dressed as human connection, typical of advertising from this period.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Hotels Statler Buffalo - Cleweland ~- Detroit - St. Louis Anew Hotel Statler ‘1100 rooms, 1100 baths) is now building at Buffalo, to open early in 1923; 500 additional rooms will be added later. In the Park Square district of BOSTON there is to be another HOTEL STATLER, with 1100 rooms, 1100 baths, opening date to be announced later. } ies a Statler telephone operator—one of those well-inten- tioned voices that come to you from someplace, take your instructions and try to give you the best phone service there is. One of the tricks about “working by ear”, the way we have to, is that misunderstandings can bob up so easily when we can’t see the people who talk to us; but you're very apt to have that on your mind, too, so errors are few, after all. We're told that it’s our job to supply patience and courtesy and helpfulness for both parties, if we have to, and to keep cheerful about it. That’sa good policy, and the right idea—and you can count me in as being for our published instructions in The Statler Service Codes and the ads. Pennsylvania Opp. Pennsylvania Terminal, New York. The Largest Hotel in the World comicbooks.com