Judge, 1895-04-20 · page 4 of 24
Judge — April 20, 1895 — page 4: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis This page is **primarily advertising**, not political satire. The central image is an elaborate Art Deco advertisement for Pabst Malt Extract and Milwaukee Beer, featuring Egyptian-inspired architecture (pyramids, palm trees, ornamental details). The ads use **testimonial claims** common to early 20th-century patent medicine marketing. A man named James A. Botsford claims the "Best" Tonic cured his insomnia and nervousness. A second ad promises the product will make you "strong again" if you have "grip" (likely influenza). **The satire lies in the format itself**: Judge magazine is gently mocking the era's credulous advertising culture—the grandiose claims, the invented testimonials, the pseudo-scientific language ("quieted my nerves") for what is essentially a malt beverage marketed as medicinal tonic. The Egyptian styling adds visual absurdity, suggesting exoticism and pseudo-authority to sell a Milwaukee beer product. This reflects period anxieties about health, weakness, and commercial snake-oil remedies.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Sas cas 5S <= <> oSSs Do you sleep ? “For years past I had been great- ly annoyed by frequent spells of ex- cessive nervousness, the most an- noying feature of which was that I would lie awake for hours after re- tiring and wear myself out with turning and tossing about. 1 = chased one bottle of is } \ Milwaukee Pabst Malt Extract rll The “Best” Tonic — Bien It 50, and, on retiring, took a wineglassful. Make no mistake, It quieted my nerves almost immedi- J rep ates and I went to sleep id once | Pabst and slept soundly all night, an : arose in the morning feeling quite | -Milwaukee refreshed. Best" Tonic is the only a “There are others, preparation that has ever given me | but you are the slightest relief from this terrible sure of nervousness. 1 have recommended it to numerous friends and acquaint. ances who were troubled as 1 was, and, without exception, they have expressed great satisfaction from the use of “Best” Tonic. James A. Borsrorp, Shenandoah, Va. “Grip ?''—-.Best” Tonic will make you strong again. “PaBsT—MILWAUKEE” ory comicbooks.com