Life magazine, 1916-29
It turns out there were lots of magazines called just Life, and ours are the first to have the name, a weekly surviving from 1883 to 1936. I’ve come across six copies from between 1916 and 1929.
The magazine was noted for its outstanding illustrated covers. Just for the record, our covers are by ‘Wildhack’, who I think this is Paula Wildhack (1872–1955), Victor C. Anderson (1882–1937), Norman Rockwell (1894–1978), Benjamin Cory Kilvert (1879–1946), Will Rannells (1892–?) and Russell Patterson (1893–1977). And within, the quality continues: there are plenty of images and cartoons, and they are all drawn – no photographs here. Otherwise the editorial content relies on social observations, gossip and stories.
And there are plenty of ads. The colour ads are restricted to the back and inside covers, and I’ve shown a few here. There were lots for cigarettes and cars, so I’ve included Camel and Fatima cigarettes from 1929, and the Lexington Minute Man Six car from 1917. Otherwise you can see here Holeproof Hosiery from 1923 and White Rock mineral water and ginger ale from 1929.
The readership, then, is clear, and just to lay it on even thicker I’ve included the ad for Arrow collars and shirts. They’re all appealing to people with quite a bit of cash to spend. Now, the magazine itself moved to a monthly in its dying days. Maybe even the wealthy were no longer willing to shell out the 10c cover price for it.
