Life, 1912-12-05 · page 104 of 116
Life — December 5, 1912 — page 104: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page is primarily **advertising** for Martin & Martin shoes, a custom bootmaker marketed to fashionable dressers. The ad emphasizes hand-crafted quality, custom fitting, and premium pricing ($7.50 upward—substantial for the era). The right side contains two **humorous vignettes**: 1. **"Not the Only Kicker"** (top): A street fight between two men—"Hank Will" (who married "the Widder Strong") and "Jorl Jenks" (who introduced them). The joke plays on the dual meaning of "kicker"—both a fighter and someone who complains. 2. **"Not the Only Kicker"** (bottom): A anecdote about Fred Kelly, a newspaper boy in Ohio, whose Black subscriber cancelled because the paper contained too many advertisements, wanting "logic" instead. The joke satirizes readers' complaints about ad-heavy publications—a relatable meta-commentary for Life's audience. Both pieces use working-class dialect humor typical of early 20th-century American comedy.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
ASHIONABLE dressers have long recognized Martin & Mar- tin Hand-Sewed Shoes, as footwear of custom quality, with ready-to-wear convenience. The models shown in the bootshops of ARTI ARTI BOOTMAKERS FOR MEN & WOMEN represent the World’s most fashionable examples of shoecraftsmanship. The Martin & Martin Service not only assures you of footwear, reflecting fash- ionable beauty and custom correctness— but, very important—by studying each customer's individual foot requirements —we are able to properly fit these shoes. In selection of finest leathers—in long- time tanning—in cutting—fitting—last- ing—sewing—each step is strictly a Hand Process. And the wearing of one pair of Martin & Martin shoes will convince you of their inapproachable custom quality. $7.50 upward the pair. We are representatives for fashionable Hand- Sewed Shoes by Thomas Cort, the World's authentic leader in footwear fashions. Custom department in connection. Write for Style Brochure, illustrated with photographs of the latest season's models for Street, Dress and Sporting Wear, with particulars of our perfected Shoe-Service-by-Post. MARTIN & MARTIN Bootmakers for Men and Women New York: 1 East asth St Chicago: 326 So. Michigan Ave. Paris: Bouladou, 39 Rue de Chaillot. Stranger: witat’s THE FIGHT AvOoUT? Native: THe FELLER ON TOP IS MANK WILL, WOT MARRIED THE WIDDER STRONG, AN’ TH’ OTHER'S JORL JENKS, WOT INTER- DOOCED HIM TO HER, Not the Only Kicker Fred Kelly began his busy life selling papers in an Ohio city. He had thirty-cight subscribers, but one day one of them, a negro, stopped his paper. Kelly went round to sce what was the trouble. “What's the matter with the paper?" he asked. “Ob.” replied the former patron, “the’s too many advah- tisemen’s. I don’ min’ a few, but when T pick up a papah I wants at leas’ half of it filled wif logic.” —Saturday Evening Post. comicbooks.co