As a Monmouth College freshman, he drew frogs, grasshoppers and salamanders in his father's biology classes.

Martin left his junior year to study at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, joining Newspaper Enterprise Association in 1921 as a cartoonist.

In addition to the strip, Martin drew promotional paper dolls in occasional newspaper cartoon panels displaying Boots and her fashionable outfits.

In the early days, the strip had a large following among students at colleges and high schools, with the result that Martin sometimes made personal appearances at proms.

[4] Interviewed in 1952, Martin revealed the strip's background and his attitude toward the characters: Five weeks before Boots' friends read of her activities in their local paper, Mr. Martin has drawn her actions for that day and mailed them to NEA (Newspaper Enterprise Association) for distribution to 700 papers which carry the feature daily.

Recently Mr. Martin received word of one reader who has at least 30 scrapbooks filled with the activities of Boots, from 1921-1951, inclusive.

[1] Martin, who enjoyed antique collecting and golf, lived at 305 North Second Street in Monmouth.