Judge, 1920-06-12 · page 27 of 36
Judge — June 12, 1920 — page 27: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a 1920 advertisement disguised as a cartoon joke. Two men discuss a modest early automobile with license plate "10-1201." One man questions whether the tires are expensive; the other responds by touting Kelly-Springfield brand tires' durability—claiming they'll last 15,000 to 20,000 miles. The "joke" is merely promotional: it presents Kelly-Springfield tires as a practical, economical choice for automobile owners. The cartoon format was a common advertising technique in Judge magazine, making product endorsements more engaging than straightforward ads. There's no political satire here—just a period-appropriate pitch for automotive tires to early car owners concerned about maintenance costs.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
GK J) June 12, 1920 y good-looking little car, Jimmy, but are n't those tires rather expensive?” “Expensive? Not at all. Don’t you know that a set of Kelly-Springfields will give me from fifteen to tventy thousand miles on this car?” 27 comicbooks.com