Life, 1926-12-02 · page 79 of 81
Life — December 2, 1926 — page 79: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is primarily a **car advertisement**, not a cartoon or satire. It features Paul Whiteman, a real and famous bandleader of the 1920s-30s known as the "King of Jazz," endorsing the Willys-Knight Great Six automobile. The advertising strategy uses Whiteman's celebrity status and musical credibility to lend prestige to the car. The opening subtitle jokingly positions his endorsement as a "personal opinion" of the car, mimicking how Whiteman was "the world's leading exponent of contemporary light music." The humor is gentle—comparing the car's quality and longevity ("a truly fine car") to a musical masterpiece. The nighttime photograph shows the car displayed prominently among theater marquees and crowds, emphasizing luxury and desirability. This represents early **celebrity endorsement advertising**, where famous personalities vouched for consumer products to boost sales. The sophisticated tone targets wealthy buyers seeking luxury automobiles with European engineering.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
= The World’s Leading Exponent of Contemporary Light Music -volunteers his personal opinion of the Willys “Knight Great Six PAUL WHITEMAN OF INTERNATIONAL MUSICAL FAME “A truly fine car, I callit... You'll go a long, long way and back again before you'll find a piece of work as good as this one...” “ “ ~ HE first modernly designed Knight-engined car presented in America . . . The first to offer the most advanced engineering practices of Europe combined with new and greatly improved standards of American per- formance... An extremely powerful car, very fast, exceedingly active... Acar whose marked beauty is conspicuous even among the most beautifully-designed cars... whose fittings and appointments rank in richness, in luxury, in comfort, with the utmost the world’s finest cars afford . . . It was inevitable that the Willys- Knight Great Six should step quickly into a preferred place in public favor... ‘Today it is second to none in sales in the luxury-car field. s 6 6 To the American owner, this distin- guished new-type automobile brings the same type of power-plant used in the most costly and luxurious cars of Europe— Daimler-Knight of England, Minerva of Belgium, Panhard and Voisin of France... The Knight sleeve-valve engine—patented, protected, exclusive — which other manu- facturers would pay millions to get. An engine you'll never wear out... the only automobile engine in the world that actually improves with use . . . the only engine that grows smoother and more powerful with every mile. With no carbon troubles .. . no valves . No springs to weaken. . . to grind. the Willys-Knight Great Six cuts up- keep costs in two... At the same time it completely wipes out the fre- quent and always inconvenient lay-ups that carbon-cleaning and valve-grind- ing cause in all other automobiles of conventional poppet-valve design. And for your added comfort and sat- isfaction Belflex Spring Shackles now replace the metal shackle used on other cars. Belflex—a noiseless, flex- WILLYS-KNIGHT Great SIX ible, shock-absorbing rubberized fabric —takes up vibration, keeps the chassis permanently silent and lessens wear at every part of the car. Willys-Knight Great Six—Touring $1750; Roadster $1850; 4-passenger Coupe $2195; Convertible Coupe $2295; 5-passenger Sedan $2295. Prices f. 0. b. factory and specifica- tions subject to change without notice. - bo The Willys Finance Plan offers un- usually attractive credit terms. Willys- Overland, Inc., Toledo, Ohio. Willys- Overland Sales Co. Ltd., Toronto, Can, comicbooks.com