Life, 1927-03-17 · page 9 of 43
Life — March 17, 1927 — page 9: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains satirical commentary on consumer culture and advertising's influence on children. **"The Model Boy According to the Advertisements"** is the main feature—a circular illustration showing a boy surrounded by product advertisements and endorsements. The satire mocks how commercial advertising creates an unrealistic ideal child: one who eats specific cereals, uses particular grooming products, plays certain instruments, and owns numerous items—all through constant consumption. **"The Lowdown on St. Patrick"** is a brief joke debunking the romanticized image of the Irish saint, revealing he was actually a slaver and not particularly virtuous—puncturing sentimental mythology. **"Still Another One"** is a short joke about marital jealousy and nightlife. The page satirizes how advertisements manufacture artificial standards of childhood and consumer identity.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
bf 0 a™ ), owe “4 KI hetieg “AH, A NEW BRICK BUILDIN’ FOR THAT VACANT LOT OF GROGAN’S—’TWILL BE A GREAT IMPROVEME Y’RE WRONG, ME B'YE—’TIS NO BUILDIN’. GROGAN I8 HAVIN’ A ST. PATHRICK’S PARTY THIS E The Model Boy According to the Advertisements H®S a sturdy lad, a happy youngster, with fresh, and animals by mail, makes big money raising rabbits, rosy-colored cheeks and the healthful habit of eat- and spends most of his time romping about and trying ing plenty of peanut butter between meals and chewing to wear out his trousers and stockings which can’t and gum with lasting flavor, and he's the best speller in won't rip, and will grow up some day to be a regular school because of a hot cereal breakfast every morning high-class consumer cducated to join the Book-of-the- as well as cod liver oil, milk Month Club, get a dominat- at recess through sanitary Sits = ing personality and be an straws, and orange juice outstanding success in busi- prescribed by eighty-seven g ZY Z. ness and socia! life. out of a hundred doctors YU ti Z W. W. Scott. with valuable min- y Gi y eral acids. He nev- Yi NYY! fl? % y The er balks at eating s AG Z Lowdown on spinach since now x YY St. Patrick it is served with é SVZ —=—> (After the Pres- French dressing, ent - Day Biog- he attends a school 2 raphers Finish with anlage a GG / z . th Him.) part of the cur- S ( : i riculun, carries od WS wy! f H B slipped ue the ball in the = to “lay dew big game because He shattered the ol Rccel insurance “ hearts of seven- policy, reads the z VA TR: tee collee Books of Knowl- : : : Z “le smoked sige, the oper 5 drank, cussed and Fire-Foot Shelf Z : : 4 ; R played pinochle. " ; S His name wasn’t really Patrick. He wasn’t a . saint at all. He didn’t exist. for children, longs for a real rifle, is champion of his gang because he owns a saxophone, lays a | - i plays harmon - Still Another One musical saw, and a . n guitar just like a J PALOuS WIFE: Who , does wonders was that woman with with a chemical set and Necessity Is the Mother, etc. you last night at the café? structural steel work now in THE TEACHER MADE A. B. DICK, JR., WRITE HIS Bricut Movie Star: colors, learns to mount birds NAME FIVE HUNDRED TIMES. That was Lon Chaney, dear. comicbooks.com