Life, 1929-08-02 · page 23 of 40
Life — August 2, 1929 — page 23: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a **fundraising article**, not satire. Life magazine promoted its "Fresh Air Fund"—a charitable program sending malnourished urban children to summer camps. The article uses "Red," a fictional twelve-year-old Babe Ruth fan, as an emotional case study. Red is depicted as an underfed, pale city boy who idolizes the famous baseball player. The piece contrasts Ruth's robust health with Red's malnutrition caused by poverty and poor diet (he preferred hot dogs to vegetables and milk). The narrative arc shows redemption: after two weeks at Life's camp with proper nutrition and rest, Red gains weight and vigor. The implicit message to wealthy readers: $20 will provide this life-changing experience for a city child. This represents early 20th-century Progressive Era charity work, combining celebrity endorsement (Ruth's example) with guilt-inducing before-and-after narrative to solicit donations. The "fresh air" concept reflected then-popular beliefs that rural/camp environments and nutrition could cure urban poverty's physical effects.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Life LIFES Summer Camps “This is the life!” 21 Babe Ruth and LIFES Camps HEN you were a kid did you ever stand outside the base- ball fence and squint for hours with your eyes next to a knot- hole and then wait outside the team’s quarters to worship the heroes of the diamond as they strutted out, unaware of your existence? Red does that, too, Red thinks he would like to be a baseball player when he grows up; Babe Ruth is his ideal and he prac- tices every gesture and mannerism of his hero. It would have been amus- ing last summer at Lire’s Camp for you to watch Red swing the bat in the Ruth manner; it would have been amusing, were it not for the undercurrent’ of pathos when one thought of the powerful figure of Babe Ruth and then saw this thin, gangling boy of twelve, whose under-developed body and pale face under the bright thatch of red hair showed the rav- ages of malnutrition and lack of air and sunshine. Although Red's undaunted enthu- siasm and determination in his chosen career went a long way, he was not a crack baseball player; he did not have the physical stamina. His first two days at camp tired him. He was not accustomed to the fresh air and in his eagerness to play and play and play he would surely have overstrained himself had not the ever-watchful counsellors restricted his activities and seen to it that he rested in the afternoon and drank quantities of milk. That was another thing not only about Red but many of the other boys as well. Red did not like milk. He was pat on that point. He detested vegetables and the other nourishing foods that were so vital to his health; he was not accustomed to them and he told his counsellor that he much preferred pickles and hot dogs. He threatened at first to be a “case,” until the counsellor was inspired. He thought of Babe Ruth and inquired about his diet; after that it was easy sailing. Red was perfectly willing to eat whatever his hero ate and by the end of his stay he had gained weight and vigor and life. He went home a veritable picture of glowing health. You made this possible for Red last year. Won't you help him to come back again this summer and show the fellows that now that he has learned to eat properly, he can swing a bat with the best of them? It costs so little to do it, too—only twenty dol- lars will send Red to Lire’s Camp for Boys at Pottersville, N. J., or his sister, Jane, to Lire’s Camp for Girls at Branchville, Conn., for sixteen days; if you can spare more, it will send another boy with him. Anything you send can be used; every bit helps. Please make out a check now and mail it to Lire’s Fresh Air Fund, 598 Madi- son Avenue, New York City. —I.M. LIFE’S FRESH AIR FUND Lire’s Summer Camps are supported entirely by vol- untary contributions from Lire’s readers. $20.00 will provide a sixteen-day vacation for one child from the city streets—the only vacation he or she will have. Con- tributions of any amount are welcomed. If you cannot provide for one child, send in what you can afford. Your contribution will be added to by others and some child will be the beneficiary. Make out checks to Lirz’s FRESH AIR FUND, 598 Madison Ave., N. Y.C. comicbooks.com