They say "clothes make the man" but young fellows who read Boys' Life in the 50's must have learned rather quickly that, more specifically, shoes make the man.
I've always been of the opinion that the average guy needs three pairs of shoes: one pair for walking around, one pair for running around, and one pair for weddings and funerals. But judging by the number of shoe ads in these old Boys' Life magazines, the average 14 year old boy was accumulating a closet full of footwear to make Imelda Marcos jealous!
Of course men's shoes aren't just for making your feet look pretty. Men's shoes are there to get your feet ready for action! Like winning the track meet, getting to the lay-up spot in a split-second, and, uh, crawling through burning buildings on rescue missions.
* After yesterday's reaction to my posting of gun ads (I raised the ire of the gun lobby) I just want to assure members of the shoe lobby that I am indeed trying to be funny with my remarks - not laugh-out-loud funny, but you know... smirk/chuckle kind of funny. Please don't misconstrue anything I've said as being racist or anti-shoe. I love all races and I love all shoes. Really.
And I love my Buster Browns.
ReplyDeleteGreat stuff Leif.....2 thumbs up!
Jeff
David Roach gave me permission to copy and paste his email message to me in regards to the identity of yesterday's Winchester ad illustrator:
ReplyDeleteHi Leif
Great idea for a theme - I absolutely adore these Johnstone and Cushing style comic ads - perfect 50's stuff - almost inhumanly clean and perfect . I could be wrong but I'd say this was Leonard Starr at work , I wonder if anyone else agree's . Looking at your ( brilliant ) web site the other day I noticed you had an earlier thread of ads which featured a Sam Spade strip - if no one else has mentioned it I can tell you that the artist was Lou Fine ( with an inker I can't remember I'm embarrased to say ) .