Life, 1927-09-22 · page 26 of 40
Life — September 22, 1927 — page 26: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three satirical pieces mocking modern consumer culture and advertising. **"The Wisdom of Solomon"** depicts a radio dealer pitching a loud-speaker to a customer labeled "King Solomon." The joke inverts Solomon's legendary wisdom: while the dealer wants to sell expensive technology, Solomon—the wise king—requests the opposite: a thousand pairs of headphones for quiet. This satirizes the aggressive marketing of new radio technology and the irony that modern conveniences often create noise rather than peace. **"The Advertisement Reader Goes to His Dentist"** mocks advertising's influence on consumers. A patient parrots elaborate dental marketing language about "dual action" dentifrices, scientific formulas, and gum massage—despite his dentist's visible skepticism. The satire targets how advertising copy infiltrates everyday speech, making people sound absurd by repeating corporate sales pitches verbatim. The bottom panels continue this theme with mundane exchanges where characters seem oblivious to obvious truths, reinforcing the magazine's criticism of modern gullibility and consumerism.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The Wisdom of Solomon Radio Dealer: WANT ON® WITH A LOUD-SPEAKER? King Solomon’ No, U WANT A LITTLE QUIET. GIVE ME ONE THOUSAND PAIRS OF HEADPHONES, The Advertisement Reader Goes to His Dentist g “VVELL, Mr. Practicing Dental Tine in the tragedy of the American harsh grit, and the honor and in- Expert, T must see you often bathroom to penalize four out of five — tegrity of four rows of sturdy bris at least twice a year, T shan't wait after forty and thousands younger. — tles curved to fit the contour of the mouth, How simple this question of Hy is! The evidence is overwhelming that you should simply for warning signs, the health of my — I've gambled with he teeth is important, and nobody can and under this) modern take your place in life where the — soft foods I've paid a fearful price, teeth and gums meet at the danger — for my clean teeth re: ms need exercise, my teeth — supply me with a generous tube of are unconsciously 1 cted and cov- — the stuff and a good brush and let me ered with films that mask my beauty — out of this chair—quick, before you in the sparkling mouth of youth — begin to hurt me. Good-b 4 filled with deadly acids that cause wot de and T can’ the smile test ize this important truth that modern hygiene de- mands a dentifrice with a dual action, and that dentists everywhere ar preaching this mod- ern gospel of gum mas- sage and now insist that I switch to that quality dentrifice which is dif- ferent: from all others with a delicious taste and a scientific formula that provides protec- tion, ands into bub- bling foam, and cleans “ane You GOING ANROAD TIS completely, the SEASON?” thing a dentrific “you’b NEVER THINK TIS STREET USED TO BE A “ou, NO; LAN GET Most oF Tilose with fifty per cent. of COWPATH, WOULD you? EUROPEAN STATIONS From Rigut milk of magnesia in a “on, 1 DON’T KNOW; LOOK AT ALL THE CALVES HERE.” convenient form, no on it.” comicbooks.com