Life, 1923-07-19 · page 35 of 36
Life — July 19, 1923 — page 35: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a **subscription advertisement** for *Life* magazine, not a political cartoon. The illustration depicts an idealized domestic scene: a man reading *Life* while surrounded by his wife and children in a comfortable home setting, with a snake coiled nearby (likely representing domestic contentment). The ad's argument: *Life* should be read at home in comfort, not in public spaces like clubs, libraries, or trains where one must wait for copies and faces impatient fellow readers. The copy appeals to middle-class domesticity and family values—suggesting that sharing *Life* with one's wife and children is preferable to solitary public reading. The humor is gentle and self-promotional: the magazine jokingly pleads for home subscriptions while satirizing the inconveniences of shared public reading. The pricing structure ($5 yearly or $1 for ten weeks) and the casual tone ("My gosh, do you want your children to have to wait...?") suggest this targets aspirational middle-class readers.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
For Greatest Comfort LIFE Should Be Read AT HOME NLY in the informal coziness O of the home circle, when you have come in tired from street or mart or office— —and slipped into attire that is real- ly comfy, and gathered the wife and kiddies around you— —then, man, then, and then only, is it possible to get out of Lire all the joy and happiness that we strive to put into it for you each week. Yes, we know that you already read Lire each week—but where? No doubt at the club or at the library or on the palatial express train speeding across the continent, after waiting in line for it (Lire) and with some person looking daggers at you because you don’t hurry. Start a new era of Lire reading. Share its sunshine and sparkle with your wife and little ones. My gosh, do you want your children to have to wait until they grow up and join a club before they see Lire? Lire has no buttons on it to bother you, no seams to irritate you, no metal to touch you. (Speaking of metal, let us touch you for five dollars for a year's subscription. If Lire isn’t eve- rything that we represent it to be, you don’t have to subscribe again next year. Or send just a ” dollar for ten weeks if you ” *” Binclosed haven't the bravery to find $. subscribe for a year. Send LIFE to me at my home address. Use the coupon for Until I saw your ad I One Year, $5.00 Ten Weeks, $1.00 7 Canada, $5.80 Canada, $1.20 Foreign, ' $6.60 Foreign, $1.40 comicbooks.com