Life, 1920-10-07 · page 46 of 56
Life — October 7, 1920 — page 46: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page is primarily **advertising**, not satirical content. It features a major W.L. Douglas shoe company advertisement (left two-thirds) and smaller ads for President Suspenders and a Waterman's Ideal Fountain Pen (right side). The Douglas ad includes a portrait of W.L. Douglas himself and emphasizes factory-direct pricing and quality control—the stamped price on every shoe's sole guaranteed honest value. This was a selling point in an era of variable retail markups. The only satirical content is a short poem titled "New Art" (right column), mocking modernist/avant-garde painters who use arbitrary, non-naturalistic colors. The joke: these artists paint skies cobalt, trees scarlet, hair green—anything *except* realistic colors—calling it innovation while lacking actual artistic merit. A small cartoon at bottom shows a man asking a doctor for a "cure for hysterics" after the stock market forced him to cancel his wife's promised sealskin coat—humor about spousal dramatics over lost luxuries during market volatility.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
646 LIFE UL. THE SHOE THAT HOLDS AG SHAPE $722 $800 $900 & $1000 SHOES FOR MEN AND WOMEN YOU CAN SAVE MONEY BY WEARING WwW. L. DOUGLAS SHOES e best known shoes in the world. They are sold in 107 W. L. Douglas stores, direct! from the factory to you at only one profit, which guarantees to you the best shoes that can be produced, at the lowest possible cost. W.L. Douglas name and the retail price are stamped on the bottom of all shoes before they leave the factory, which is your protection against unreasonable profits. W.L.Douglas $9.00 and $10.00 shoes are abso- lutely the best shoe values for the money in country. They are made of the best and finest leathers that money cat can n buy. | They combine quality, style, workmans! and wearing quali- ties equal toother sa ope selling at higher prices. They are the leaders in the fashion centers of America. The stamped price is W. L. Douglas personal guarantee that the shoes are always worth the price paid for them. The prices are the same everywhere; they cost no more in San Francisco than they do in New York. W. L. Douglas shoes are made by the highest paid, skilled shoemakers, under the direction and supervision of experienced men, all working with an honest determination to make the best shoes for the price that money can buy. I Sisponcle | Jor comfort | Every pair guaranteed MADE AT SHIRLEY MASSACHUSETTS New Art E paints a verdant tree A scarlet hue; The summer sky that we See cobalt blue, This variegated fellow Paints a red with streaks of yellow: Any color that it isn't—so it's new, He doesn’t seem to care What critics think. His color scheme for hair Is green and pink, And a woman's smile seductive Rendered in his style destructive Would drive a Prohibitionist to drink I picture him (or her) A figure quaint Who lunches, as it were, On tubes of paint, With a purple leer ecstatic In a blue and orange attic, While he swallows palette knives wit out restraint. George Mitchell STATISTICS show that only five mi. lion six hundred thousand persoss paid income taxes this year. Which proves conclusively that an over whelming majority of our one hund and ten million citizens are happy tented, and have comparatively nothing‘ worry about W. L. Douglas shoes are for sale by over 9000 shoe dealers besides our own stores. If your local dealer cannot supply 7% take no other make. Order direct from factory. Send ‘or booklet telling how to order shoes by mail, postage free. ped on the sole. Be careful to see President W.L.Douglas Shoe Co., 147 Spark Street, that it has not been changed or mutilated. Brockton, Mass. A — .UTION.—Insist upon having W.L_Do' fae a Khoon The name and price is plainly Sf R @ man ho a a tae ct mo kéa Cocks ee dag Can dee Npatinmans Ideal Sountain Fen “SAY, DOC, I PROMISED MY WIFE A SEAL- SKIN COAT, AND NOW THE MARKET'S GONE AGAINST ME AND I'VE GOT TO TELL HER IT'S ALL OFF, WHAT'S THE QUICKEST CURE FOR nysTerics?” comicbooks.c@mig