Life, 1923-09-20 · page 36 of 36
Life — September 20, 1923 — page 36: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is primarily a **Colgate's Rapid-Shave Cream advertisement** rather than political satire. The page uses a humorous premise to promote shaving products. The joke contrasts two American fashion trends: the arrival of golf (a gentlemanly sport) coinciding with the decline of beards. The satirical point is that beards would be dangerously incompatible with golf—a mustachioed prospector or frontiersman (the "human chrysanthemum" and "bearded brother from Beaver Falls") playing golf would be absurd and hazardous. The illustration shows an old, bearded man in frontier attire—representing an outdated American masculine ideal that golf supposedly displaced. The advertisement's message: modern gentlemen who play golf need clean-shaven faces. Colgate's cream makes shaving easier and keeps faces "cool, soothed and velvety"—appealing to golf-playing men as the new standard of American masculinity. The tagline at bottom emphasizes trustworthiness: "Truth in advertising implies honesty in manufacture."
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
WHEN golf came into this country whiskers went out. This juxtaposition of circumstances was most fortunate. Any golfer will understand how seriously he would have been handicapped in playing over a course that was haunted by such an exponent of the game as the This diagrammatic magnified cross-section shows how the close, moist lather made by Colgate’s Rapid - Shave Cream goes to the base of each hair. The oly coat- ing upon the hair is quickly emul sufied by the lather. This permus the moisture carried in the lather to soften the haty at the base, where it meets the edge of the razor. human chrysanthemum portrayed above. Driving into such a swale as he supported would have been as disastrous as slicing into a haystack. But the disadvantage would not all have been on the side of the player whose ball had gone into the bull rushes. Playing from the lie might easily have brought serious discomfort to the bearded brother from Beaver Falls. The divot lifted by the niblick could, perhaps, have been replaced by a competent surgeon, and dam- ages to the bewhiskered player's windpipe might have been repaired, but the interruptions attending such inci- dents would have had a tendency to spoil an afternoon. Nowadays the golfer who adds a bushy beard to the rest of the hazards is likely to miss the whole- souled support of his caddy. Moreover his facial fur- belows are pretty sure to inspire remarks that will disturb him in crucial moments. Look your best by lathering with Colgate’s Rapid- Shave Cream. It takes wear and tear out of shaving, and is easy on the nerves. COLGATE’S Rapid-Shave Cream softens the beard at the base— where the razor’s work is done. It makes shaving easier, and leaves the face cool, soothed and velvety. A prominent man* writes us: Tae : ” “I find your Rapid-Shave Cream 199 Fulton St. the most satisfactory and most inex- New York pensive I have ever used. I have Please send me the free trial gotten 325 shaves from a tube.” tube of Colgate’s Rapid-Shave ‘Cream for better, easiershaving. NNEW: SI T0dVaINNIA Fill out and mail the attached coupon fora free trial tube containing cream enough for Nam \ 12 better shaves than you have ever had. COLGATE & CO., Est. 1806, NEW YORK Addres Name given on request. comicbooks.com