Life, 1924-08-07 · page 33 of 36
Life — August 7, 1924 — page 33: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is primarily a **paid advertisement**, not satire or editorial content. The left column lists donations to Life Magazine's Fresh Air Fund (a real charitable organization providing country vacations for poor city children). The dominant content is a full-page ad for **Dr. Thomas Lawton's "Automatic Waistline and Abdomen Reducer"**—a mechanical corset or belt device claiming to reduce weight 24 pounds and waistline 3 inches in 3 weeks with "no medicine, no dieting, no exercise." The ad features testimonial from a New Hampshire postmaster stating the device worked for him. It promises a "vacuum massage applicator" that massages away fat "with every breath you take." This represents **early 20th-century weight-loss quackery**: pseudoscientific claims about effortless body reduction through a mechanical device. The ad's breathless language and impossible promises would be recognized by modern readers as characteristic of dubious health products, though the product itself—a motorized vibrating/massaging belt—was genuinely marketed during this era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
LIFE 31 Memorials of Use (Continued from page 9) From Edward B. Weed, Esq, of wburgh, New York, funds to estab- lish FRESH AIR ENDOWMENT, No. 284, Rovext L. Weep Memoriar. From the Misses Louise and Ethel Lee, of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, funds to establish FRESH ALR ENDOWMENT, NO. 285, Iy Memory or ovg Parents, WitutaM Hlexry Lee ano Louise Wentz Lee. Lirt’s Fresh Air Fund Live’s Fees Are Fuxp has been in opero- for the past thirty-seven years. In that it has expended $271,448.33 and_ has «a fortnight in the country to 45,925 r city children. ‘ontributions, which are acknowledged in £ about three weeks after their receipt, Id be made payable to Lir Farsi x FuNo, and sent to $98 Madison Ave., York’ City, ssly acknowledged... K. Walker, + $10,623.14 10.00 ‘ew Yor! and Mrs. C, Detroit. Mrw. Joba Co Rirby, New Brigh- Kate 'N. Kot E. Darling, Simsbury, ass corge W. ‘Dulany, 34, Chicago: John” D. “Appel, Jr, “Hartsdale Hantingt iy ny Sp bg A.’Hayes, Geneva 3 Miss Audrey L Mrs. C. P. Cook, Brundag sully, Topeka, Kan. Oswego Lodge of Elks, 1 OSNER? City, v7 H. (ood al ennington, Ve VT, Hampton Bays N. RT. Hoek Dayton, Ohio Colonia id School, Mass. RP. Y., Ww. irosse. Pointe. Mich: TB jrosse Pointe, Post “Recruiting Of Houston, Tex. . Royal W." Weiler, Allentown, Pa. Robert C. Smith,’ J . Davids, a. Wa! Lioyd, "Colorado" “Springs, Total. .ceccccesseeceeseeeseo$1l,315,86 Loses 24 pounds ::- reduces waistline 3 inches —in 3 weeks! You can try the same method for ten days FREE No medicine No dieting No exercise With no effort at all “T AM returning my Automatic Waistline and Abdomen Reducer by insured parcel post today,” writes Ivan W. Arno, Postmaster of Erroll, N. H. “*Willyou please make itsmaller for me, for I can lace it together and it is stiil too loose. I am more than pleased with the Reducer. I have reduced my waistline 3 inches and have Jost 24 pounds in weight in less than three weeks.’” Such letters are pouring in each day upon Dr. Thomas Lawton, inventor of Dr. Lawton’s Automatic Waistline and Abdomen Reducer. Hundreds of these reducers, which originally fit snugly, are being returned to be made smaller. ‘The summer is the best season for quick reduction. Men and women throughout the country are regaining their normal, symmetrical figures through this wonderful device, which is cool, comfortable, well ventilated and made of special reducing material. Something entirely new Do not confuse Dr. Lawton’s Automatic Waistline and Abdomen Reducer with ordinary rubber belts and girdles. True, it does what they do—AND MORE. In the center and on the inner side is the patented Vacuum Massage Applicator, which gently, persistently—massages away the fatty tissue with every breath you take—with every step you make. You can now try it—FREE Its results are so sure—so immediate—that we want you to see what it will do for you in a brief ten days—at our risk. Tear off the attached coupon. Sign your name. It will bring a complete description of this remarkable reducer. Also full details of our FREE OFFER which permits you to wear the Automatic Waistline and Abdomen Reducer for 10 full days—at our risk. You are to be the sole judge of its ability to reduce your waistline and abdomen. If you are not entirely satisfied it costs you nothing. Use this coupon now Send it today. Right now while it is handy. You cannot afford to miss this opportunity to reduce WITH NO EFFORT AT ALL. Dr. Thomas Lawton, Dept. H-78, 19 W. 70th St., New York City Please send me complete description of your Automatic Waistline and Abdomen Reducer. Also details of your FREE TRIAL OFFER under which I am to be the sole judge of the efficiency of your device. Name $s... Street ... City Peau sign Jour name Mr Mra. or Miss comicbooks.com