Life, 1925-09-03 · page 34 of 36
Life — September 3, 1925 — page 34: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a **house advertisement** promoting Life magazine's upcoming "Fourth Burlesque Number"—a special satirical issue. The illustration shows a woman reading newspapers, visually representing the target of next week's satire. **What it means:** Life's "Burlesque Numbers" were special issues dedicated to parodying contemporary institutions and culture through exaggerated humor. This particular issue will mock **tabloid newspapers**, then a growing and controversial form of sensational journalism. The text calls these papers "Bobbed" dailies—a dated reference suggesting something frivolous or modernly trendy (like the "bobbed" hairstyle of the 1920s). **The satire's point:** Tabloids represented everything Life's editors found ridiculous about modern journalism—sensationalism over substance, brevity over depth. By declaring it a "sporting event" and urging readers to pre-order immediately, the ad itself parodies the hard-sell, fear-of-missing-out marketing tactics of the very media it's about to skewer. The cover features artist **John Held Jr.**, Life's prominent cartoonist.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE BURLESQUE NUMBER of ife Watch for this John Held Cover NEXT WEEK IFE has always been famous for its Burlesque Numbers, in which sanity, tradition and respect for law are lost in a mad riot of satirical nonsense. The first Burlesque Number, parodying the current magazines, was an instantaneous success. So were the Sunday Edition and the recent News-stand Number. Next week in its FOURTH BURLESQUE NUMBER Lire will go to the mat with that peerless product of modern journalism, the Tabloid newspaper, or “Bobbed”’ daily. As a true lover of American institutions, you cannot afford to miss this great sporting event. If you wait till this Number is on the news-stands you may be too late. Don’t be caught napping. Order your copy of the Burlesque Number NOW. All of LiFe's foremost contributors will be represented in this Number QUEM TERMINAL PRINTING CORPORATION, BROOKLYN, NEW YORK comicbooks.com