Life, 1929-05-31 · page 26 of 36
Life — May 31, 1929 — page 26: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is primarily **advertising** for *The Golden Book Magazine*, disguised as satire. The "first prize" is fake—a setup to mock a fictional letter from "Mrs. Tillie Litehead" (a comic name suggesting shallow thinking). The joke targets women readers perceived as intellectually unambitious. Mrs. Litehead complains that *The Golden Book* contains serious literature that prevents sleep and makes her husband uncomfortable with her developing ideas. She prefers simple stories and recipes to Poe, Balzac, and O'Neill. The magazine then uses this absurd complaint as a **reverse advertisement**: "If you're the kind of person embarrassed by good literature... avoid us. But if you value serious fiction and great writers, subscribe!" The satirical target is anti-intellectual attitudes, particularly among women expected to remain intellectually decorative. The sketch of a woman reading "Happy Stories" reinforces the contrast between lightweight entertainment and genuine literature. This reflects early 20th-century *Life* magazine's highbrow sensibility and appeals to educated readers by mocking those who reject literary culture.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
FIRST PRIZE AWARDED TO MRS. TILLIE LITEHEAD Mrs. Litehead’s 150-aword letter won First Prize in the “Why the Golden Book Is Bad for Me” Contest Everyone should read this splendid straightforward letter: “I am an ardent reader. For the last twenty years I have been reading myself to sleep every night with a good magazine. I find none of this calming effect in the Golden Book and what woman at my age wants to lose her beauty sleep? I love those darling little stories that you can lay aside at any point. Your stories don’t give me a moment's rest till I finish them. Furthermore, my husband says your magazine puts ideas in my head and he won't stand for it. I think myself that I get more good out of a magazine that prints recipes than one that prints poems. Another thing, a woman can’t be too careful of the impression she makes. The girls at my bridge club are always talking about Harold Dazzledirk’s latest story. I remem- bered a few names like Poe and Balzac and Aldous Huxley, Edith Wharton, and Eugene O'Neill, but none of the girls had ever heard of them. A woman must make her reading count if you know what I mean.” Think Twice of Mrs. Litehead before You Subscribe to the Golden Book If you are at all likely to become overstimulated by a magazine full of such good reading that you can’t lay it aside, if you must take your bromides in the form of magazines, if you have a husband who finds your threadbare ideas quaint and cute, if you are likely to feel embarrassed with a growing knowledge of good literature and great writers, if an aristocratic magazine would look out of place on your library table—Then Beware of the Golden Book! If, on the other hand, you are a person to treasure a perfect short story, a lovely poem, or a subtle piece of humor, if you realize that good reading doesn’t mean heavy reading, if you'd care for a more thorough acquaintance with the most vivid personalities that have ever contributed to the literary world, if you would delight in having a satisfying selection of fiction, drama, essay, poetry, humor and personalities coming to your home each month—a selection that represents the cream of the moderns as well as the proven masterpieces of the past, Then Subscribe at Once to the Golden Book. Our Prize for You is a 3344% Reduction on the Next 6 Issues. BEE BSB SBS SE SS SS SST TTBS TH THE GOLDEN BOOK MAGAZINE LI-29 § 55 Fifth Avenue, New York 6 Issues Enclosed please find $1.00 for which send THE GOLDEN BOOK for six months to the address below. for only $1.00 comicbooks.com