Life — February 27, 1931 — page 4: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis This page announces Life magazine's closure of its theater ticket service, transferring it to the Postal Telegraph Company. The left side contains two advertisements unrelated to the main announcement: 1. **Top ad**: A satirical dental hygiene piece showing a confused student at a blackboard ("2X=?"), mocking conflicting dentistry theories. It promotes Squibb Dental Cream, claiming 95% of dentists agree it prevents decay—a common advertising trope of the era using dubious statistical claims. 2. **Bottom ad**: A Squibb Dental Cream tube advertisement, emphasizing it contains no grit or astringents. The main text explains Life created its ticket service two years prior to combat ticket scalpers exploiting theater-goers, particularly out-of-town visitors. Having achieved this goal through Postal Telegraph's intervention, Life now discontinues its own service, endorsing the telegraph company's superior nationwide infrastructure for this purpose.