Life, 1929-04-05 · page 45 of 56
Life — April 5, 1929 — page 45: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page combines a **Rexall shaving cream advertisement** (left) with a **book review** (center-right) and **travel agency advertisement** (right). The main content is Perry Githens' review of Sinclair Lewis's novel *Dodsworth*. Githens praises it as Lewis's best work, describing protagonist Sam Dodsworth as an atypical American industrialist—cultured, unpretentious, and thoughtful rather than the stereotypical greedy businessman. The novel follows Sam and his wife Fran's European vacation after he sells his auto business, exposing differences in how Americans and Europeans approach culture and marriage. The review contextualizes *Dodsworth* within Lewis's body of social criticism (following *Main Street* and *Babbitt*), positioning it as an examination of American business success and transatlantic relations. The advertisements flanking the review—for shaving products and luxury travel—are period typical for *Life*, a magazine targeting affluent, educated readers interested in both consumer goods and literary culture.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
TARE THE NUISANCE OUT OF SHAVING _Here’s real help for your razor, Klenzo Shaving Cream, without rubbing in, speedily “breaks” the most stubborn beard and enables your blade to sweep it away—swift andsmooth andclean, Leaves your face feeling soothed and delight- fully cool and fresh. Lather Klenzo Shaving Cream with a Klenzo Shaving Brush—full- tufted, soft and the genuine bri: tles put in to stay in—guaranteed. Klenzo Shaving Needs are sold only at Rexall Stores, Save with safety at your DRUG STORE There is one near you. You will recognize it by this sign. Liggett’s are also Rexall Stores. The New Books Dopswortu (Harcourt, Brace), by Sinclair Lewis, is far and away the best thing he has ever written, and not so very far nor so very much away from the best things that anybody has ever written. The book came very close to being named “The Charming Mrs. Dods- worth”, but while that clegant and complacent lady occupies a position of prominence in its pages, the story is the story of Sam Dodsworth. At fifty, “Sam Dodsworth was none of the things which most Europeans and many Americans expect in a leader of American industry. He was not a Babbitt, not an Elk, not a deacon, not a Rotarian . . . while he was bored by free verse, he thought rather well of Dreiser, Cabell, and so much of Proust as he had rather laboriously mastered. He played golf reasonably well, and did not often talk of his scores. He liked fishing camps in Ontario, but never made himself believe that he preferred hemlock boughs to a mat- tress. He was common sense apotheo- sized, he had the energy and reliability of a dynamo, he liked whisky and poker and pate de foie gras, and all the while he dreamed of motors like thunderbolts, as poets less modern than himself might dream of stars and roses and nymphs by a pool.” At fifty, Sam was ready to play. His automobile business he had sold to the U. A. C., the great motor trust. His daughter safely married, and his son in college, there was no reason why he shouldn't do what he wanted to do: run away with Fran, his wife, and catch up with whatever it was he had missed during those busy years. So Sam and Fran sailed away. Sam, to see what he could see; Fran, to see and be seen. England, France, Italy, Germany, wherever he went, Sam was the worthy American, solid, good-hu- mored, thoughtful. Fran, who “wore her knowledge as she wore her furs”, must needs go native, taking Euro- peanism as a new garment for her self- adulation. Just as Main Street exposed the in- wardness of American life, Babbitt, the bones of American business, and Elmer Gantry the hypocrisy of Ameri- can evangelism, so Dodsworth reveals the picture of American business suc- cess, American relations with Europe, and American marriage. I don’t see how you are going to by Perry Githens The expectations of a Euro- pean vacation are fully realized only when the trip is properly planned. Travel is then an inspiration ...an education . . . a joyous ex- perience. Cook’s make a special feature of Individual Travel. From your own ideas—your time available —your budget, they develop an itinerary fashioned exactly to fit your needs... or from your most sketchy ideas create a worthwhile tour. Cook’s pre-arranged pro- grams include all types of Group Travel with or with- out escort; from the very highest classof Luxury Tour to the economical, yet com- fortable Popular Tour. With 88 years of expe- rience, 200 offices in Europe alone,—close affiliation with Wagons-Lits Co., Cook's service represents the utmost in value and satisfaction. Individual Travel. Group Travel. Automobile Tours. Airplane Tours. Steamship Tickets by all lines. Cook's Traveller’s Cheques. THOS. COOK & SON 585 Fifth Avenue, New York in co-operation with WAGONS.LITS CO. 701 Fifth Avenue, New York comicbooks.com