Life, 1926-10-21 · page 36 of 44
Life — October 21, 1926 — page 36: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page mixes advertising with editorial promotion. The left side advertises **Reymer's Pittsburgh candy** with a photograph of a child examining a gift box—a straightforward commercial appeal to holiday gift-giving. Below that is a **golf cartoon** depicting two caddies, one explaining to the other how a golf club could be used as a weapon for robbery. The humor relies on working-class characters discussing criminal violence casually—typical of early 20th-century "lowbrow" comedy that treated crime as darkly comic material. The right side previews upcoming **Life magazine issues**, including a "Crime Number" (apparently celebrating crime as entertainment), an "Odd Number" promising absurdist humor, and eventual holiday issues. This reflects Life's satirical approach: treating serious social problems like crime and urban violence as material for sophisticated mockery rather than moral concern. The overall page exemplifies how early Life magazine positioned itself—mixing consumer culture, working-class stereotypes, and darkly comedic treatments of social ills as entertainment for educated readers.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Or ; . y every Gi T OCCaSI Storsapprovedas / y from Reymers'— 3 ensuring freshness : . teed *ThatG Pittsburgh Candy” MADE BY REYMER & BRO RGM, PA_ SINCE 1046 OO ~~ “COME ON, CADDY, IT’s G COURSE SEEMS TO BE “EXCUSE M I WAS JUST THINKIN’ WOTTA SWELL WEAPON ONE OF THESE HERE KNOCK- ERS WOULD MA WHY, YOUSE COULD WRAP IT AROUND A G HEAD AND TAKE HIS ROLL AND HE’D NEVER KNOW WOT HAPPENED.” The CRIME NUMBER a delicate tribute to America’s new national sport— with a cover by L. T. HOLTON and another ROBERT BENCHLEY'S “Fascinating Crimes.” Following this comes the Qe Norbert with a cover entitled, “Guaranteed to Make No Sense,” by John Held, Jr. THE ODD NUMB is to be absolutely crazy—a wild flight into realms of fantastic insanity. Watch for it. Y will find it startling, if nothing else. ° The Football, Thanksgiving and Radio Numbers follow, leading up to the big event of the year, the Christmas Number for which COLES PHILLIPS has designed one of his most alluring covers. Life ~ - c+ ua ena comicbooks.com