Judge, 1902-03-29 · page 16 of 16
Judge — March 29, 1902 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
These two cartoons mock German-American immigrants through exaggerated dialect and stereotypical features, particularly their prominent noses. **Top cartoon ("She Knew Him by His Nose"):** A costumed man at what appears to a masquerade party worries his disguise won't fool his wife—but his large nose protrudes through the mask opening, making him instantly recognizable. The joke plays on the stereotype of German noses as comically oversized. **Bottom cartoon ("Where He Erred"):** Mr. Cohen (likely Jewish, not German, based on the name) catches a boy lighting matches outside. When his wife questions why he's licking the child, he explains the boy was "wasting" matches—implying there's nothing flammable to set on fire in the yard, so the boy shouldn't waste them. The humor derives from the immigrant father's penny-pinching and broken English. Both cartoons rely on period stereotypes about ethnic immigrants' appearance and speech patterns that were common in early 20th-century American humor magazines.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
SHE KNEW HIM BY HIS NOSE. Mr. Gevorisit (who has been forced to cut his mask to make room for his nose)—‘* | vonder eef mein wife vill know me In dis disguise? Der gostumer sedt | choost look like Heiney de Eight.’* ‘Sackett Wilhelns Litho & Pry Co Rew York. WHERE HE ERRED. | Mrs. Conen—' Vy are you licking leedle Shakey ?"" Mr. Couzn—“' He vas lighting matches out in der back yard.” Mrs. Conen—“ But dere vas nodding out dere dot he could set on fire.”* Mr. Conen—“ No, of course nod—dot's der reason of Id. Vat's der use of dot foolish poy wasting matches ?"” comicbooks.com