Life, 1926-05-06 · page 52 of 52
Life — May 6, 1926 — page 52: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is primarily an **advertisement for Ipswich De Luxe Hosiery**, not political satire. The humor is gentle and commercial rather than satirical. The illustration shows men at a baseball game enthusiastically reacting to socks—one man tosses his hat in celebration while another reclines with legs up, displaying colorful socks. The joke plays on the idea that stylish socks are exciting enough to warrant passionate fan-like reactions, mimicking baseball stadium enthusiasm. The text uses sports metaphors ("extra innings," "heavy hitters in the laundry league") to market the socks' durability and appeal. The phrase "What a sock!" is a pun—"sock" meaning both hosiery and an exclamation of surprise or approval. This reflects 1920s-30s advertising humor: treating mundane products (socks) as worthy of excitement to appeal to male consumers hesitant about adopting brighter colors and patterns for summer wear.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
IGHTY few men are still on the fence when it comes to changing over to lively new patterns and more cheerful colors in socks for summer wear. A sock that is knocking a lot of them off this season is one the Ipswich dealers call No. Thirty-One- Thirteen. Its handsome 4-color pattern in achoice of four masculine color combinations will catch the buying eye of any man who is still susceptible to young ideas. Ipswich “Thirty-One-Thirteens” ate always good for extra innings against the heavy hitters in the laundry league. IPSWICH De Luxe HOSIERY IPSWICH MILLS, Ipswich, Mass. LAWRENCE & COMPANY, Sole Selling Agents comicbooks:com