Judge, 1883-12-22 · page 11 of 16
Judge — December 22, 1883 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a satirical comic strip illustrating the self-aggrandizing reminiscences of a former actress. The narrative follows her career trajectory through multiple panels, showing her claiming credit for various accomplishments: performing at Philos Garden, theatrical success allegedly due to her "Israelite manager," earning $300 nightly, and attributing her complexion's admiration to her own merits. The satire targets vanity and self-delusion—the actress retroactively inflates her importance while conveniently blaming external figures (her manager) or circumstances for difficulties. The final panels suggest her later decline into obscurity and difficult roles. The joke is that her "memoirs" reveal her unreliable narrator status; readers understand her success resulted from luck, connections, and management rather than talent alone. This mocks both theatrical pretension and the genre of celebrity autobiography.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
inst bat’ was at j ~ = My [ven agement igs blind aS me of a Tratetling—ae ur 7] always made one of Auslar wateld ke umbed Lrunlks y [ Z Ne \ prevent exam A g S conn & t Vi ‘ 2 a / THY ) waive ayeeg tert AN robber i saved was my Corlrac ) A y j wal a J wT 300 dollars berni [Y Suceess s lar alt= exion was, yy. to my Tsraeli £L Falways greatly admire WWanager y-) th Pais wl ealous Aisbosrvow : hdd Ereated mb unkind : he reated m i M a ! din vs who always) ui at the Stage door MEMOIRS OF AN ACTRESS.