Life, 1923-12-06 · page 70 of 84
Life — December 6, 1923 — page 70: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This Life magazine page (circa 1920s) contains mostly **advertisements and light humor**, not political satire. The main ad promotes **Dayton Steel Tennis Racquets** as the ideal Christmas gift—emphasizing durability and reliability. Tennis was a fashionable leisure activity for the affluent in this era. The **"Triolets Tristes"** poems humorously depict gift-giving disappointment between couples: a woman wanted a beaver jacket but received a den rug; a man wanted Mark Twain books but got a Chippendale chair. The satire targets **marital miscommunication**—spouses giving practical or decorative gifts when partners wanted specific items they'd hinted at. A brief joke plays on the word "sentences"—the Judge's baby imitated his father by pronouncing his "first sentence" (legal ruling), not literal speech. The **"Hair Stays Combed"** ad and other advertisements promote grooming products. The "Christmas Shopper" advice column offers practical, slightly comic guidance about gift selection—avoiding sending live dangerous animals or inappropriate books, for instance. The page is primarily **consumer-focused content**, reflecting 1920s middle-class concerns about proper gift-giving etiquette and personal grooming.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“Mg née Gift that Every Tennis Player Wants All over the world Dayton Steel Racquets will be given as Christmas gifts this year. It’s the racquet that has proved itself wherever tennis is played, e racquet that is harder- hitting, better balanced, more accurate—the racquet with the steel frame that can’t warp and the steel strings that are always tight—the racquet that is un- aftected by heat, cold, drought or dampness, that never requires a press. That’s why it’s the only rac- quet you can give with the surety that it will be in as per- fect condition next spring as it is on Christmas day. It’s the one gift that every tennis player would rather get than anything else—it solves the gift problem. The best sporting goods store in your town has a Dayton Steel Racquet ready for you. It's packed in an attractive holly-covered gift box. And its price is only ten dollars. Triolets. Tristes (Beatrice Announcing.) 1 WANTED a beaver jacquette, And he gave me a rug for his den! I hinted—how could he forget ?— That I needed a beaver jacquette. One can’t be ungrateful, and yet— The awful obtuseness of men! I wanted a beaver jacquette, And he gave me a.rug for his den! (Benedict Standing By.) I wanted a set of Mark Twain, And she gave me a Chippendale chair! Imagine a gift more inane, When I wanted a set of Mark Twain! OF course I don’t mean to complain. But why can’t a woman play fair? I wanted a set of Mark Twain, And she gave me a Chippendale chair C.R. S. Aunt Susan: The Judge's baby is following right in his father’s footsteps. Uncre Ben: What makes you think so? Aunt Susan: Why, he pronounced his first sentence yesterday! Hair Stays Tue Dayton Steet Racquet Co., Dayton, Onto The Dayton Steel Racquet Company of Canada, Toronto, Canada Steel Racquet A i r 0 Musical Instruments Not toys—but high-grade practical instruments for Symphony or Jazz orchestras. Greatfor solo work at Club, Lodge or Legion gatherings or home entertain. ments, Anyone can play with a few simple lesson: furnished with each instrument. -O-Netti Musical pitch Fork Glassaphone Jazz tte G24 instruments for 16 days. MUSSE! ae WESTPHAL 421 8, Water Street Princess Hotel BERMUDA OPENS DECEMBER 7TH + For reservations apply to L. A. TWOROGER CO. Cable Address, Princess Bermuda A Few Suggestions to Christmas Shoppers Do your Christmas shopping late so as to avoid the early rush. On the other hand, do not wait until Christmas is over. Try to decide what you want before you buy it. Not afterward. Do not send the present that you received from some one last year to that same some one this year. Do not enclose the bill present you send. Refrain, if possible, from such presents as poisonous snarling dogs, wildcats, sharks or wharf rats. Al buy appropriate _ presents. Thus, do not send a carving set to a vegetarian or a volume of love lyrics to a misogynist. Leave the price marks only on those articles for which you have paid too much, Try to avoid sending the wrong present to the right person. Remember that, as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has so often told us, it is the spirit that counts. with the sending snakes, scorpions, Combed, Glossy Millions Use It — Few Cents Buys Jar at Drugstore HAIR GROOM seas ait Orn KeepsHair Combed Even stubborn, unruly or shampooed hair stays combed all day, in any style you like. “Hair-Groom” is a dignified combing cream which gives that natural gloss and well-groomed effect to your hair—that final touch to good dress both in business and on social occasions. “Hair-Groom” is greaseless; also help grow thick, heavy, lustrous hai ware of greasy, harmful ee comicbooks.com