Life, 1926-09-09 · page 29 of 40
Life — September 9, 1926 — page 29: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a **full-page advertisement**, not satire or political commentary. It promotes Eastman Kodak's new Ciné-Kodak amateur movie camera system. **The Product**: A home motion-picture camera designed for everyday consumers—positioning it as easy to use as a Brownie still camera. Key selling points: daylight loading, spring-motor drive, no tripod needed, low operating costs (one-sixth of professional equipment). **The Appeal**: The ad emphasizes capturing personal moments—golf victories, children playing, family trips—and screening them at home. It promises access to Hollywood stars (Chaplin, Fairbanks, Barrymore, etc.) via rental libraries. **Pricing & Market**: Complete outfit costs $140 (roughly $2,200 in 2024 dollars), positioning this as a luxury consumer good for middle/upper-class households with electricity. **Historical Context**: This appears to be 1920s-era marketing for what was genuinely revolutionary technology—bringing movie-making into American homes during cinema's early golden age. There is no political dimension; it's purely commercial messaging.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Life The Magic of Movies — the Kodak Way vost Juns ida ory. the T’S hard to believe that amateur movies of high- est photographic quality are so easy to make—and yet the latest Eastman achievement, Ciné-Kodak, isaseasy to useasa Brownie. That's fact. Point the lens, press the release and your movie's in the making. A new pleasure awaits you—with a new thrill. Even the excitement of the game is transmitted to your living room when you show on the screen the action your Ciné-Kodak caught from the stands. That winning putt on the eighteenth hole—a sigh of relief goes up from your fireside audience as the ball goes in. Frolics of the chil- dren, incidents of the trip, happenings around the home—whatever it is that pleases you most gives you movies that meet your mood. Ciné-Kodak loads in daylight with safety film and is spring-motor driven. No tripod. No focusing. The cost of operation is decidedly low -about one-sixth as much as for ‘standard’ movies. Kodascope C for projecting the picture on the screen rivals Ciné-Kodak in simplicity. Plug in New Eastman motion picture equipment for the amateur on any electric light circuit, turn on the switch and en- joy the picture. Ciné-Kedak works at waist height or eye bevel, Famous Stars— at your pleasure Professional photoplays, reasonably rented from Kodascope Libraries, may be included in your pro- gram when you like. Douglas Fairbanks, Charlie Chaplin, John Barrymore, Norma ‘Talmadge, Elaine Hammerstein, Irene Rich and the other stars of the ciné-constellation will entertain in your home whenever you name the night. The Ciné-Kodak Model B, with Kodak Anastigmat (6.5 lens, is priced at $70; with Kodak Anastigmat (3.5, at an even hundred. The Kodascope C projector is $60. A complete outfit now—Ciné-Kodak, Koda- scope and screen—as low as 5140 The thousands of Kodak dealers are now prepared to demonstrate the Ciné-Kodak. If your dealer is not yet ready, write us for Ciné- Kodak booklets. Lf it isn’t an Eastman, it isn’t a Ciné-Kodak SS lotion Pictures the Kodak Way’’ — that's the title of an interest- ing booklet that your dealer would be glad to give you—or we'd be glad to send. comicbooks.com