Judge — July 20, 1895 — page 16: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This Judge magazine page satirizes summer resort hotels and their marketing practices. The central joke concerns a hotel on Lake George advertising "special inducements to young men" to attract guests. The cartoon suggests that hotels are desperate to populate their establishments with young men as attractions (presumably for female guests). Judge's satirical proposal: hire homely country boys and dress them as fashionable "dudes" (well-dressed urban men) to deceive visitors about the quality of male clientele available. The humor relies on the era's class distinctions between rural and urban sophistication, and the assumption that summer resorts' primary appeal to women guests was the availability of eligible young men. The satire mocks both the hotels' deceptive advertising and the vanity of guests who could be fooled by mere clothing.