Life, 1929-04-12 · page 11 of 44
Life — April 12, 1929 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This story satirizes class anxiety and financial desperation during economically hard times. Old Mifkin, an uptown tailor, worries about collecting a $300 debt from a wealthy client named Holliday. The narrative suggests Mifkin's precarious social position: despite his skill and pride in dressing the upper classes, he remains financially vulnerable and dependent on wealthy patrons who may not pay. The accompanying sketch shows Mifkin at his desk, troubled by the collection problem. The story explores themes of class difference, professional dignity, and economic insecurity—a tailor's pride clashing with his powerlessness against defaulting customers. The humor lies in Mifkin's internal conflict between maintaining dignity and pursuing legitimate payment.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Tailor Made By Eric Hatch LD MIFKIN sat in the private O office on the balcony of his shop and worried. Old Mif- kin had to worry. He was one of the better up-town tailors. Sometimes he wished he were one of the poorer down-town tailors who made suits for thirty dollars and got the thirty, but he didn’t really wish this because, way down in his heart the pride of the artist was strong in him. He liked knowing that when one of his suits participated in a> wedding, it was a swell wedding. He liked being cer- tain, when one of his grey tweeds grew old in service at the races, that the shine on its seat had been imparted from constant association with chairs in the club stand. Old Mifkin lived for the clothes he made and he had a genuine affection for the people who wore them. Why not? Most of them he'd dressed since they had buried stripling legs in the dark deceit of their first’ long trousers. At the mo- ment Mifkin was worrying The thought of collecting the three hundred passed from the tailor's mind. about young Holliday, who owed him three hundred dollars. It wasn’t so much, of course, but it had been owed him for a long time; his accountant insisted that he sue. Mifkin sighed and reached for the telephone to call his lawyer. Then suddenly he thought of how terribly he'd feel if Holliday had to stand up in court in a Mifkin suit, The picture grew on him. He could see Holliday beaten down, lower and lower, until at last his body was found lying in some dark lane, dressed, as always, in a Mifkin§ suit. He pushed the telephone away from him. He called his secretary. “Phone Mr. Holliday,” he said. “Tell him I want him to come and see me.” Holliday came in the next day, and, as he was shown into the private of- fice, Mifkin shuddered. He hadn't realized that one of his suits could look as this suit of Holliday’s now looked. It was unpressed and shabby. In the trousers the morning sunshine was re- flected as by a piece of gleaming plate. No nap had it, and under the right elbow was a darn. “Great heaven, = Mr. What's become of you?” The thought of collecting the three hundred passed from the tailor’s mind Holliday! ATAVISIG as clouds disappear when the rain comes down too hard. The young man looked up at him and coughed. Then he said, “T lost all my money three months ago. Stock mar- ket. Can't get a job. No- body,” he coughed again, “seems to want to hire me. Don’t understand it.” Mifkin stared at the young man for a long time, pondering. Clearly he was telling the truth, Mifkin had wondered for a moment if it had been liquor, but Holiday's eye was clear, he was shaven and though his hand shook with nervousness, the tai- lor knew somehow that he had tried. He thought about how the boy had come in in the past, to buy polo clothes and hunting clothes, and summer clothes for the south in winter. No wonder nobody wanted him looking like a (Continued on Page 39) comicbooks.com