Life, 1929-05-31 · page 34 of 36
Life — May 31, 1929 — page 34: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page is primarily **advertisements and reader letters**, not political cartoons. The ads promote luxury goods (Apollinaris sparkling water, Madison Hotel, Carbona cleaning fluid, Reddy golf tees) to affluent readers—typical 1920s lifestyle marketing. The **"Such is Life" section** contains three reader letters addressing magazine content: 1. **Margaret Hockford** complains about a French caption error ("Le Main de Dieu" should use feminine article)—a humorous nitpick about typography. 2. **Stanley Kaufman** sarcastically asks why Life only prints positive reader mail, not critical letters. 3. **Robert L. Ranson** (St. Augustine, Florida) seriously criticizes Life for mocking **Prohibition enforcement**. He argues the magazine's anti-Prohibition stance makes it morally complicit with bootleggers and undermines the law—a heated social/political issue of the Prohibition era (1920-1933). The Ranson letter reveals contemporary tensions: some readers viewed Prohibition as legitimate law deserving respect, while Life apparently took a satirical, skeptical stance toward enforcement.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
When you throw Guests will at once see that you wish them to have only the best. The Finest Sparkling Table Water in the World Sole Importers: Apollinaris Agency Co. Fifth Avenne at 42nd Street, New York realetverad id The BPadison folel and Restaurant Suites Now Leasing Immediate Occupancy MADISON AVENUE At Fifty-Eighth Street Kev Yous cir s ‘THEODORE Masoging Derecter ‘Telephone Cable Address RECENT 4000 MADISOTEL ‘This adv. suggested by Ed Donovan, 611 E. Teth St., N.Y. If you have anew and original idea. send It tous and if acceptable we will pay $100.00 —and it is just as unsafe touse inflammable Cleaning Fluids | demanda- CARBONA Cleaning Fluid | CANNOT BURN CANNOT EXPLODE absolutely safe!- Removes Grease Spots Without Injury t2 Fabrie or Does it Quickly and Easily | 2O*BOTTLES 4'a/osue Stones The “Choose-Your-Own Book-Each-Month-Club” le based upon the theory that thore who are intelligent enourh to read good books, have sufficient brains to pick them oot themselves. If you belong to this group, we should like to send you fall particolare and our catalog FREE. We eupply any book in print.Let us quote you. IN. Y. Pablishing Co., Dept 258 25 Dominick St., New York Watch for next week's cover of LIFE! Shoot ” em in a long, straight line down the fairway—off Reddy Tees. It’s easier, better driving when you use a Reddy. Sets the ball just right for a healthy smack. Why waste time and spoil your grip with wet, sticky sand? A Reddy’s quick and sure and clean. The ‘REDDY TEE Buy from your “Pro” Carbona Products Co., 302-004 West 28th Street, New York Larchmont, New York Dear Lire: Now far be it from me to be one of those boring people who go through life hunting out typographical errors in magazines and then telling the edi- tors about them. But, merely for the sake of curiosity, why, oh why, did you ruin a perfectly marvelous drawing by putting “Le Main pe Dieu” un. derneath? Don’t misunderstand me— T think the idea is grand, but couldn't you have put a feminine article in front of “Main?” —Margaret Hockford. Editorial Note—Yes, we could have, but we didn't! Dear Lire: I notice that you always print in your correspondence column _ letters from people saying they like this, and you were just going on the rocks but recovered and that so-and-so’s articles are fine. Why don’t you print some of the bum ones? —Stanley Kaufman. St. Augustine, Florida Dear Lire: Your weekly has been coming into our home for several years and is still welcome—but I want to call your at- tention to one of the grandest oppor- tunities you have to help make us a better Nation, which you not only neglect but actually seem to throw your influence in the opposite side of the scale, I mean on the matter of Prohibi- tion. It may be an unfair Law and one that we feel curtails our liberty ete. ete—but it is the Law and to continually ridicule all attempts to en- force it, and make fun of its violation, places you (morally) as a partner with the bootlegger, the master criminal of | this Age. Taking this stand, as Hoover points out, places you in the list of Law breakers and sympathizer with Law breakers, and you would have no more complaint against me legally, if I broke into your home and robbed you, with violence, than I have against you for aiding and abetting the liquor inter- ests in your Magazine. Your paper has a very wide cit- culation and you are responsible for its influence. If you favor booze, im- morality, etc., please let me know and strike my name off your subscription list. I don’t want my family corrupted by the sentiments that continually have a very prominent place in your paper. —Robert L. Ranson. “Fun Penton Panne Co., Curvetano comicbooks.com