Life, 1925-06-11 · page 34 of 36
Life — June 11, 1925 — page 34: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page from *Life* magazine contains satirical commentary on early 20th-century American society mixed with period advertisements. The main article, "Who owns the telephone?", presents a sanitized success narrative: John Graves rises from factory worker to stockholder in AT&T through prudent savings. The piece promotes widespread stock ownership as democratic capitalism—"one out of every 45 telephone subscribers is also a stockholder." The satirical edge appears in the opening "Obsolete" caption mocking Mah Jong (a faddish parlor game), and especially in the bracketed statistic: only 38 of 100 Americans work for a living; the other 62 are "too busy writing for the success magazines." This jabs at the proliferation of self-help and business literature popular at the time. The advertisements—for musical instruments, dental products, and shoe floor coverings—are typical period marketing using health claims and aspirational messaging common to the era. The page reflects 1920s optimism about consumer capitalism and stock ownership, while *Life*'s humor undercuts both faddish consumer culture and the "success magazine" genre itself.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Obsolete “I've a good mind to send this old Mah Jong set to the rummage sale.” “What's the use? Nobody would know what it was for.” Ir is stated that only thirty-eight out of every one hundred Americans work for a living. The other sixty-two, we suspect, are too busy writing for the success magazines. ONN Play forpleasureand pr and dprofit Cons ives you both in the short. rime is the out~ Conn, as the you. Beautiful tone, fect scale, retiadie mechattam, see ithe exlanive ‘features Cons REE TRIAL, EASY P. PAYMENTS oa Who owns the telephone? geseung EEE EESE the hundreds of famous stare jbo use and en . GorveConn instruments, For seven carefree years young John Graves worked in ©. G. CONN, Ltd. é eee 21 Coun Bids., Eikhart, fad. the car shops at Orenville, spending his dollars as fast as he CULTIVATE YOUR MUSICAL BUMP earned them. Soon after his promotion to foreman, he was SS married and moved to a little white house on Orchard . = 3 =— el Avenue. Life was happier than ever, but spare dollars The dread Pyorrhea were not more plentiful, especially after a third member was begins with bleeding gums | added to the family. \ Then came a day when the plant superintendent showed John the wisdom of saving a part of his earnings, for the UST as the satisfaction it would bring, and for protection against emer- 3 strength of a A : ‘i building is depend- gencies and old age. He and his young wife, for the first , q pont entupon its Founda time, learned the difficult art of economy, and finally they i tions, so are healthy . M 4 BEEAG | teethdependentup- came to know the joys of saving and of safe investment. 2 on healthy gums. Today John Graves, and many thousands like him, own the stock of the American Telephone and Telegraph Com- ; ee eedisasioe . . * teeth. This condition pany. This company is owned by more people than any i A is called Pyorches Age ; r £ of other, and the great majority of its owners—laborers, clerks, & ee er aed . q - = .* 4 Y dng i. housewives, business men and others—have bought it with free panfal tooth ; ‘ ; 3 5 base decay. They act, their savings. As its business has grown, the number of its ; fess ag 3 say donk . * . , for des ‘germ: shareholders has increased until now one out of every 45 Z Tocnier the syvem— “ : faa the Nn telephone subscribers is also a stockholder. i NE Stine cr caning Pa AMERICAN TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH COMPANY AND ASSOCIATED COMPANIES i, BELL SYSTEM Fete cos nent One Policy, One System, Universal Service : ‘ cna pevet time and used con sistently. Italso The Inventor : I Scienubcally cleans 6 2 the teeth—heeps Keep Your NVA L SR | Joses, hating toils monotonous routine, | | : them whiseand your To do his work invented a machine l 3 teeth with ic. Off a estos Which, when perfected, met with such ssid} lf gum shrinkage has already set mn. success. He made a million—through sheer lazi- ness. After Hours “Fatuer is late getting home from work,” said the night watchman’s wife, Dest. 23." iP We aan hr Mich. glancing at the clock. “He must have cal overslept this morning.’ byl rented $0 6th Ave.,.N. ¥. ‘BUSH TERMINAL PRINTING CORPORATION, BROOKLYN, REW TORK comicbooks.com