Life, 1923-02-15 · page 36 of 36
Life — February 15, 1923 — page 36: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a **product advertisement**, not political satire or a cartoon. It promotes Colgate's "Handy Grip" refillable shaving stick, circa 1923 (per the library stamp). The page uses the metaphor stated in the headline—inserting a refill is "Like Putting a New Light Bulb in a Socket"—to illustrate the product's convenience. The imagery shows hands demonstrating the simple insertion mechanism. The marketing pitch emphasizes **economy**: you buy the metal grip once, then purchase inexpensive refills rather than full products. This was a novel selling point in early 20th-century consumer goods. The copy also highlights product benefits: superior lather, easier shaving, and leaving skin "cool and refreshed." A closing line compares the cost favorably to "a day's cigars"—suggesting the target audience was men with disposable income. There is no satire or hidden meaning; this is straightforward commercial advertising using the novelty of refillable design as a competitive advantage.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
gs a New Light Bulb in a Socket Pate a Colgate “Refill” Shaving Stick into the “Handy Grip” is very simple, and it is done in a few seconds. Once you have your “Handy Grip” it will last for years. The “Refills”, threaded to fit it, cost you the price of the soap alone. But in addition to the economy you practice in using Colgate’s “Refill” Shaving Stick, there is always its wonderful superiority for making lather. With hot water or cold, with soft water or hard, Colgate’s gives you a quick, fragrant lather, which holds the hairs of the beard upright, and softens them at the base, where the razor’s work is done. It makes shaving easier, and leaves the face cool and refreshed. Send us 10c for the “Handy Grip”, the metal container, and a trial-size shaving stick. After the trial stick-is-weed up you can buy the “Refills” as you need them. Each “Refill” gives you at least three months’ easier shaving, at less than the price of a day's cigars. COLGATE & CO. Dept. 23 199 Fulton St., New York ATE’S Refil] Shaving Stick comicbooks.com