ComicBooks.com Register / Loginit's free!

Life, 1927-04-21 · page 28 of 39

Life — April 21, 1927 — page 28: what you’re looking at

📖 Open the full issue in the page-flip reader →
Life — April 21, 1927 — page 28: Life, 1927-04-21

What you’re looking at

This page is primarily **advertisements** interspersed with satirical content typical of Life magazine's format. The main satirical piece is "A Cure for the Blues: An Uncle Ferd Preachment," which parodies tobacco advertising's folksy, pseudo-medicinal tone. "Uncle Ferd" humorously recommends *Life* magazine itself as a cure for depression—mimicking how contemporary ads claimed their products (cigarettes, patent medicines) could cure ailments. The joke is self-promotional satire: Life suggests reading Life will cure your blues through humor and escapism. The other advertisements (Barbasol shaving cream, Bayer Aspirin, American Radiator boilers) are presented straightforwardly without satire. The small London humor item about a "gold-tipped cigarette" is a mild social joke about class affectation. The entire page reflects early 20th-century advertising conventions: exaggerated health claims, intimate "talking to you" tone, and visual appeals to aspiration and comfort. Modern readers would recognize the absurdity of treating magazine-reading as medical treatment—exactly Life's satirical point.

📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

26 Life MERICANs [DEAL RADIATORS BOILERS For burning ANY coal, coke, oil, gas or wood Sons and daughters who cher- ish the remembrance of happy homes are particularly mindful of the healthful comfort, the cheer and gaiety, and the social advantages derived from heat- ing equipment so wonderfully efficient, so thoroughly reliable. For fuel facts of interest, write for catalog __ AMERICAN RADIATOR COMPANY Sales Offices in Principal Cities U.S., Canada & Europe Keep That School- boy Complexion Shave with Bar- basol, and you leave the natural oils right in the skin. Perpetual youth! Nobrush. No rub-in. Try Barbasol-3 times -according to di- rections. j “Mister, you’re next!” x Barbasol For Modern Shaving The Barbasol Company Indianapolis, Ind. lenclose 10c. Please send trial tube. LeM4-21-27 Maw (to cook): °E wasn't ‘arf a tof. ‘E’d a gold-tipped cigarette be'ind ‘is ear!—Passing Show (London). BAY PIRIN Say ‘Bayer Aspirin’’ INSIST! Unless you see the “Bayer Cross’’ on tablets you are not getting the genuine Bayer Aspirin proved safe by millions and prescribed by phy- sicians for 25 years. Accept only a Safe Bayer package whichcontains proven directions Handy “Bayer” boxes of 12 tablets Also bottles of 24 and 100—Druggists Aspirin is the trade mark of Bayer Manvu- facture of Monoaceticaciéester of Salicylicactd A Cure for the Blues An Uncle Ferd Preachment (Closely following the chummy lit- erary style of the magazine adver. tisements for several popular brands of tobacco.) ROTHER, about this time of year, the old blue devils just seem to be bossin’ you around and for some reason you're not kickin’ back. You need help; a mental tonin’ up, so to speak—that’s what you need, so just lean a little mite nearer while Uncle Ferd whispers a sure- fire, cure-all remedy that’s got ’em all beat a thousand ways for Sun- day. First place, just snap outa your grouch long enough to heave on that comfy old ulster over your droopin’ shoulders and make a B-line for the nearest news-stand. And when you get there, ask the man— lissen in close now—for a copy of Lire, and you better ask kinda cheer- ful-like, too, If there's a copy left, you're a lucky lad. If he isn’t savin’ it for somebody else and you get it— Mister—you've got the medicine that’s goin’ to put you back on your feet again. Mark what I say. Now, sir, go right straight back home and if you're not locked out—as you prob’ly ought to be—sneak up to the, old den, slip on that faded-out smokin’ jacket—the one the little woman has forbidden you to wear— pack your favorite corncob full of ‘baccy, light up, lop down in your easy chair and open up your Lire to page one. And then, by George, I'll betcha chalk, money or marbles be- fore you've read twenty lines those saggin’ mouth corners just simply won't behave. Twenty lines more and you'll quit poutin’ for good. Fin- ish the page and you'll be grinnin’ from ear to ear, another page or two and you'll find yourself chucklin’ and then, old pal, look out for those reg- ular old he-hearty laughs that you thought you didn’t have left in you. They're comin’. You can’t stop ‘em and you don’t want to. That's what Lire does for you. Why, before you're through readin’ it, Mother'll come rushin’ in in her bathrobe and ask you if you've gone crazy. But don’t mind her. By the time you've finished this little prize package of sunshine and you're ready for the hay, boy, you'll sure be singin’ and smilin’ and believin’ the old world is a mighty good place to live in after all. Don’t thank me, brother, thank Lire, for there’s the humdingin’est, brightest, smartest, sportiest, wisest crackin’ little magazine in all crea tion or any other place. Take it from Uncle Ferd, for he knows what he’s a-talkin’ about. C. Knapp. [) comicbooks.com