Life, 1926-06-24 · page 16 of 41
Life — June 24, 1926 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page announces a reader contest where the grand prize is a six-week European trip for two people, with additional cash prizes. The contest mechanism is straightforward: readers must identify factual errors in letters written by "Joan Kinley" about her recent European travels. Joan's eighth and final letter appears here, describing her arrival in Plymouth, England. The satire lies in the premise itself—readers are challenged to spot geographical, historical, and observational mistakes Joan has supposedly made throughout her correspondence. The P.S. joke references "Sinclair Lewis," the famous American novelist, humorously suggesting concern he might win the contest. This represents early 20th-century magazine engagement: combining travel narrative, reader participation, and subtle humor about American tourism and European culture.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Life’s Travel Contest The winner of this Contest will be presented with a six-weeks’ lrip from any point in the United States or Canada to France and England and return— with ALL EXPENSES PAID, FOR TWO PEOPLE. There will be a second prize of $250 in cash, a third prize of $150, and a fourth prize of $100. ITTLE Miss Joan Kinley is back from Europe. Her eighth and last | letter appears below When Joan went to Europe, we announced that she was sixteen and pretty, but a trifle dumb. We did not exaggerate. Her cight letters have been full of inac hard visited, misstatements of fact; she has tried urnish us with New York, made many g of the scenes that she ute descrip he | she | ish mistakes in her I lett on the detection—and cor rs that the Travel Con and corrects the great writes the best essay of no I Shall Sce in Europe,” Read Joan's last letter and the conditions carefu This Is Joan’s Eighth and Last Letter— Watch for the Mistakes EAR EDITOR: Well, here | am, back on the good ship Paris in the his- toric town of Plymouth, from which the Pilgrim fathers i Like those brave men and women, | am turning my eyes to es | set s ard x it 1 in 1492 to found a new world—our world—our America! the rising sun—and to say that I'm thrilled would be putti mildly, corrected letters What a marvelous trip it has been! From the moment when ailed from Pier 57 in New York, I’ve enjoyed every second! I've learned so much that 1 never knew before, and | only hope my letters have been of sor All answers to this Contest must reach LIFE Office between 9 A.M. on June 24th and 12 noon on July 13th. No answers re- ceived at any other time will be considered! i : as competing in the Contest. have not had the luck to see Europe. educational value to those who As I write these last lines, my mind is filled with beautiful thoughts of all the places I've visited: the little café in Rheims where the Armistice was signed, the statue of Napoleon in the center of r Square and the bust of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in Westminster Abbey, the padlock on the Arc de Friomphe—all the romance, the age-old mystery of the past Well, good-by for the present—and don’t do anything I wouldn't do till we meet again | Your girl friend. fens P. S.—T do hope that Sinclair Lewis doesn’t win this Contest Wouldn't it be dreadful to have him refuse the prize? comicbooks.com