Life, 1923-10-11 · page 36 of 36
Life — October 11, 1923 — page 36: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is primarily **advertising, not satire**. The page features a Walter Biggs painting illustrating an advertisement for the American Radiator Company's "Ideal TYPE A" heating system. The ad uses a social comedy premise: a well-dressed couple entertaining guests in their cellar. The "joke" is that basements were traditionally dirty, unusable spaces—but with a clean, attractive heating unit installed, homeowners could invite company downstairs without embarrassment. The narrative quotes a New York architect praising how clean the device keeps the room, arguing that basement space becomes valuable real estate when heated properly. The ad's pitch: installing this furnace will "pay back" its cost through fuel savings while transforming wasted cellar space into usable living area. This reflects 1920s concerns about home modernization and efficient heating, positioning industrial equipment as aspirational home décor that enables social entertaining.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
104 West 42ND Srreet, New York From a painting by WALTER BIGGS What! Company in the cellar! Y's INDEED. Invite them down. No rear son why they shouldn't see the cellar if you have an Ipgat TYPE A Heat Macuine. The Ipgat TYPE A, being itself so clean and handsome, has caused hundreds of cellars to be cleaned up and dressed up; it has turned the wasted part of the home into a usable and useful part. “It is the most efficient heating plant on the market, and is very easily kept clean,” writes Leland H. Lyon, New York architect, whose home is in New Rochelle, New Yark. “Many men, when visiting me, are amazed that the room in which the IpeaL TYPE A stands should be so entirely free from gas or dust. I have several electrical devices in the same room and there is, at no time, any appre- ciable amount of dust on the motors.” Why not, like Mr. Lyon, add another floor— thecellar—to theserviceable part of yourhome? The pear TYPE A will do it,and will pay back the cost of the improvement in the fuel it saves Send to either address below for an illustrated booklet which tells the whole story AMERICAN RADIATOR COMPANY Iprat Boilers and AMERICAN Radiators for every heating need Dept. 139 comicbooks.com 816 So. Micuican Avenug, Cuicaco