Life, 1914-08-06 · page 2 of 40
Life — August 6, 1914 — page 2: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is primarily a **tire company advertisement**, not political satire. The cartoon depicts a caricatured man at a desk with an exaggerated grinning face, appearing to demonstrate floating tires as entertainment. The ad's humor plays on the novelty of rubber tire technology: Kelly-Springfield tires can "float" (likely referring to buoyancy or tire design innovations), which the copywriter frames as simultaneously a "stunt" for amusement and a practical feature demonstrating rubber quality and durability. The caricatured figure appears to be a generic showman or entertainer type rather than a specific historical person. The joke relies on early-20th-century advertising's whimsical approach to promoting manufacturing innovations, treating industrial products as novelties worthy of public demonstration.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Being able to float is just a stunt that Kelly-Springfield Gray ‘Tubes will perform for your amusement. But the punity of rubber that makes them float will also make them wear. And that’s more than amusing—it’s mighty saving and gratifying. Kelly Springtiels Tire Company corner « Broadway & 57th Street, New York n New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, St; Louls, Detroit, Cincinnatl, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Cleveland, ttle, Atianta, Akron, 0.