Life, 1925-01-29 · page 26 of 37
Life — January 29, 1925 — page 26: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three distinct pieces of satire from Life magazine: **"Lament" (poem by G. Hathaway):** A humorous complaint about the proliferation of consumer contests in the 1920s-30s. The speaker has entered countless contests—naming products, writing slogans for magazines, vaseline, cigarettes, margarine—but never won. It satirizes both the obsessive contest-mania of the era and companies' cheap marketing tactics of crowdsourcing ideas from the public without compensation. **"Our Mr.—" (by R.A.H.):** Mocks the lives of traveling salesmen, the dominant commercial workforce of the period. It portrays them as exhausted hustlers wearing out shoe soles and wearing down customers until they buy, while their wives and children live in modest flats wearing hand-me-downs. The satire critiques both the exploitative sales culture and the financial strain on salesmen's families. **Bottom cartoon:** Shows radio executives testing a new "bedtime story-teller," likely satirizing early radio programming or corporate experimentation with new entertainment formats. The page overall satirizes commercialism, consumer culture, and working-class economic struggle.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Lament HEREBY rise to vert my spleeni (Although my weakness I betray) For years and years now, I have been An entrant in the contest fray; New contests spring up every day, I try them all—and never get A prize, or any form of pay: I've never won a contest yet! I've tried to name a magazine, I've tried to write a movie play, I’ve tried to praise a vaseline, I've written slogans, limericks—yea, I've even penned a roundelay Extolling some new bobbed-hair net! But what's the use? Try as I may, I've never won a contest yet! For tooth-paste names I've raked my bean, And eke for drinks, and beauty-clay; I've thought up names for margarine “OU, DEAR! AIN'T THAT MEAN? IT's Till my (remaining) hair turned gray; GOT YESTERDAY !" I've tried trick phrases to convey “Our Mr vs Bevis of some new cigarette, S id still I sorrowfully say: UMANITY must be enlightened! Long enough has I've never won a contest yet! one-half of the world staggered in ignorance of how the other half lives. LEnvoi The other half is salesmen. Salesmen live by walking to and fro—by looking up at strect numbers and down at cards in their hands. Salesmen live by developing personality, carrying con- viction to clients—by developing length of arm, carrying I’ve never won a contest yet! brief-cases and reaching at lunch counters. G. Hathaway. Salesmen live on inspiration caught at salesmen mectings— caught from Sales-Managers who declare: “Our — future executives must come from the s of our sales force!” Salesmen live by wearing down their shoe soles, and by wearing down their prospects until they sign in exhaustion. Salesmen having expense ac- counts live by carefully making out same. Salesmen’s wives and young- sters live in small flats. They wear last year’s clothes and the wives are good at mending. There are other salesmen but they do not belong to this half. R. A. H. Prince !—Lady Luck, I mean—I pray That you my fortune will abet. Who gets the prizes, anyway? “LIJAVE you noticed how thin THE ACID TEST Smithers has grown?” THE DIRFCTORS OF THE UNIVERSAL RADIO CORPORATION TRY OUT A NEW “Yes, His wife is dieting.” BEDTIME STORY-TELLFR comicbooks.com