Life, 1925-04-30 · page 35 of 42
Life — April 30, 1925 — page 35: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page combines literary criticism with advertising. The left column reviews contemporary books by F. Scott Fitzgerald (*The Great Gatsby*), Ring Lardner, and others—discussing their literary merit and narrative techniques. The dominant content is a **Coca-Cola advertisement** (not satire or cartoon). It features a woman in a light dress holding a Coca-Cola bottle, with marketing copy emphasizing the drink's qualities: "sweet," "piquancy," "bouquet," and "charm of purity." The ad costs five cents. There is **no political cartoon** on this page. The advertisement's positioning alongside serious literary discussion creates an unintentional juxtaposition—pairing high culture (book reviews) with consumer product messaging. This reflects 1920s magazine practice where ads occupied prominent space regardless of editorial content. The phrase "YOU'RE MISSING SOMETHING" targets readers, suggesting Coca-Cola completion to their experience—a straightforward sales pitch rather than satire.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Life and Letters (Continued from page 23) of her scene down on paper and to breathe life into it by an ingenious recording of the psychological pulsings of the characters who inhabit it. A young Englishwoman who had a Span- ish mother (no joke, either) moves about on the fringe of her family mak- ing mental reservations about this and that until some sort of combustion seems inevitable. She was like John Milton with the Puritans—amongst them, but not of them. And they all such interesting people, too—right down to the dead sister's incorrigible children. She finally cuts loose and writes a play sbout it all (Freudianly, as an outlet for her subconscious desires) ; the play is produced on the lawn and the county invited, but even so, the young man keeps on studying for the priesthood. “The Counterplot” is full of those perceptions and shadings without ich no modern fiction appeals to me much. What a tragedy that so little of it has them! “Tue Great Gatssy,” by F. Scott Fitzgerald (Scribner), is such a strange nixture of fact and fancy that when I finished it I felt as if I had slipped up or down a plane, and was astonished to see that my sewing-basket on the table looked just the same and to hear that the radiator in the next room was king the same old noise. It is the ry of a super-four-flusher whose parties at his Long Island place were sttended by thousands and whose un- timely coffin was followed by two. The jacket says that the book is “infused with the strangeness of human circum- stance.” I'll say it is. When you get through with the story, you feel as if you'd been some place where you had a good time, but now entertain grave doubts as to the quality of the syn- ¢ gin. “Tue Woman I Aa,” by Amber Lee (Seltzer), is what I should call swell trash. Built for speed, with no thought of endurance. I warn you here and now that the heroine at the age of six could tell real pearls from fake ones and sus- pected her foster-uncle of having a Chinese wife back in Pekin. If you can get by that, then heigh-ho for the lovers’ parade! “Wuat or It?” by Ring Lardner (Scribner), is another contribution to the only kind of Americana which seems worth while bothering about just now. It is a collection of articles which have already appeared in various maga- zines, and is full of the genial satire characteristic of its author, who can see straight through the citizens of these United States, Baird Leonard. ‘The Coca-Cola Company, Atlanta, Ga. YOURE MISSING SOMETHING It is sweet, but with a piquancy a zest~As you get the full flavor, you sense bouquet ~It has the charm of purity. Coca-Cola / RE~FRESH YOURSELF/ FIVE CENTS IS THE PRICE comicbooks.com