This shadowbox frames a comic print from 1904 that features a young shoeshine boy enjoying an unexpected occupational benefit.
As he assiduously shines an attractive female client's shoes, the youthful entrepreneur is treated to a view of a shapely ankle. . . and quite a bit more. This comic and coyly suggestive cartoon was apparently quite popular in its day, appearing on a variety of prints and postcards.
After being treated to such a stunning sight, the shoeshine boy opines that "It's a shame to take the money."
Included in the shadowbox is a small bisque figurine featuring the lovely lady and the leering lad. Although just 3 inches tall, it captures all the pertinent details of the print, including the caption, now incised on the base. Underneath it is stamped "MADE IN GERMANY" in black double circle.
A variation on the theme featuring a Black boy and slight changes in the woman's wardrobe. There is no incised caption, no doubt, like the other tweaks, to avoid a copyright challenge. Of bisque, it is 4 inches tall and unmarked.
The print is marked in the lower left corner "Pub. by Edward. Stern & Co., Inc, Phila.". . .
and in the lower right, "Copyrighted, 1904, by R. Hill."
Edward Stern and Company was a printing and lithography firm established in Philadelphia in 1871 by brothers Edward and Simon Stern. The company printed a wide variety of products, including books, calendars, cards, and pamphlets. It was in business until 1945. I could not find any information about "R. Hill," other than the name appears on numerous postcards, prints, and photographs in the early 1900s, with images that range from silly to sentimental. A search through the United States copyright records found numerous references to "Hill (R.)" of Philadelphia being granted copyrights to certain image titles, but no other background information. I suspect that R. Hill was not an individual artist, but a publishing house that acquired the rights to images created by in-house or freelance artists.
