Life Magazine

Several years ago, I decided to buy some old Life magazines. Above is the copy that I plan to give to my son for his birthday. It was printed the week that he was born.  I took another look at it today and was mesmerized.

First let me talk about the advertisements. The most popular were cigarettes, whiskey and shavers with an occasional auto and television ad thrown in. One cigarette ad for Lark cigarettes state that 90% of smoke is gas and they patented the gas-trap filter. It shows two people on a ski lift smoking and smiling.

  Now the Marlboro man was a two page ad with very few words and a picture of a gorgeous man, lighter in hand, cigarette in mouth, stetson on his head and NO wedding ring on his left hand. L&M cigarettes have a photo of two people looking into the camera, not smiling, only the female has a cigarette in her hand and the caption reads: There is a cigarette for the two of you. L&M. 

Does anybody remember the L.S.M.F.T?  Lucky Strike means fine tobacco........or loose strap means floppy titty (gasp) as it was known in the kid circles.

Pall Mall was touted as: longer-yet milder. Viceroy is on the back cover with a photo of two people at the piano with the man offering a young woman a smoke. Their ad was "Don't settle for some of the taste some of the time. Viceroy gives you all the taste all the time.

I used to smoke when I was very young. It gave me a way I could rebel.  I remember the first time I flew in an airplane I went to the tobacco store and bought French cigarettes and they came rolled in pastel papers.  It was a time that you could actually smoke on an airplane, in your seat, with your own ashtray. It seems so foreign to me now but I felt so sophisticated by puffing away.  If you remember the old black and white movies, you will recall that most of the women smoked. Smoking was acceptable but smiling or laughing was not....it wasn't considered feminine. I am still laughing at that one.

Since it was close to Christmas, the ads for whiskey usually had some kind of twist of celebration for the holidays.

As for the TV sets, they are really funny to look at because the foreign models were just starting to make their way into the USA.  Sony and Toshiba had large ads talking about their picture tube and how it was different from the others. Also many of you will not believe it, but it was BEFORE remote controls.  Does anybody remember actually getting up to turn the channels?  Shoot, we only had three channels anyway.  That was before cable. (I am really beginning to sound like an old timer now.)

Speidel had an ad for a mans watch that actually had a calander built into the side of it. You needed to go to your jeweler to have it changed every 18 months. I wonder if they are in the antique stores now?

OMG, do you remember Royal typewritters?  You really had to press down on those keys when you typed.

Victor advertised a personal adding machine with the slogan Till Debt Do Us Part.  The electric model as little as $69.95 and hand-operated from $59.50. It's one of the few items that is now affordable for everybody to own. Some companies even give calculators for free.

Sunbeam, Shick and Noelco had shavers for sale and the ones for women were popular during that era.  "This cheerful little shaver is an gentle on the purse as it is on the person. And just like a woman it has two sides to it for close shaves on legs and underarms."

Eastern airlines has a full page color ad. We all know what happened to them right?  I was on a plane headed from Florida to Kentucky when they went belly up.

I want to talk more about the articles in this magazine.  1969 was a big year, we walked on the moon, womens LIB was forming and Vietnam was in full swing.  This issue had an article that I will discuss tomorrow, after I finish weeping.  Reminds me of what is happening today.  Enough!

Anybody else remember these advertisements?