Judge, 1906-05-26 · page 16 of 16
Judge — May 26, 1906 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a six-panel comic strip satirizing a character named "Nervy Nat," who attempts to swim in what appears to be a public fountain or water feature in London's Piccadilly Circus during hot weather. The humor centers on Nat's audacious indifference to social convention and public decency. He strips down to bathe in a public space, draws crowds of gawking onlookers, and dismisses complaints about his behavior with elaborate, self-serving rationalizations. The strip mocks both his shameless nerve and his pompous pseudo-intellectual excuses (referencing "ethics" and comparing himself to Olympic athletes). The finale shows him arrested by "Officer Stimm," accepting jail as a fitting conclusion to his escapade—treating imprisonment as merely another amusing consequence of his brazen conduct. The satire targets attitudes of reckless entitlement and public nuisance behavior presented as sophisticated amusement.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
1, Nervy Nar—" Holy centigrade! to-day Is almost as hot as a Man- hattan August special. Oh, for the good old swimming-hole of me boy- hood! No superfluous bathing-suit or Turkish towels In those days. A game of tag dried us then. Well, I've got to have a swim "-— 3. Nervy Nat—" No one seems to notice me, which in Itself is passing strange; so | will do my little tank-drama. If fair Rosalind down there will keep her ample back turned I'll be able to peel down to my bathing- costume. I think | can make a rather classy dive from here "—— 5. Nervy Nat—"' Well, for Pete's sake! have you no occupations? Don't you realize what jolly bad form it ts to stare at a gentleman bath- ing? I assure you all, upon my honor, that | am not a devil-fish. Now, ‘one of you fetch me a Turkish towel and a bath-mat and I'll overlook your rudeness this time. errno 900 NERVY NAT TAKES A DIP IN 2. Nexvy Nat—''I haven't the energy to sift out the ethics of this busi- ness. Whether it is more immoral to annex this aquatic cutaway or to go in swimming In a public place without— Well, I'll put it up to Slimm afterward—he's bully at ethics. When it's ninety-nine in the shade pass all those questions up. 4. Nervy Nat—""Houp-la! Gee! why didn’t I go to Athens for the Olympian games? It's a remarkable fact, but when | start to dive noth- ing under the Rockefellers can prevent my reaching the water—and that is what constitutes a dive. | hope this lake doesn't supply the ‘Cri and the Trocadero with crabs and lobsters ""— 6. Orricer Stimm—"* Did you himagirie you were down at Brighton?” Nervy Nat—“Oh, splash, Slimm! You might just as well save that overpowering sarcasm for another time. Nothing you can say will ruffle me at present—I've had too good a time. All| ask now is a nice clean cell. a fair-to-middling cigar, and one of your English comics to snooz® ever. PICCADILLY CIRCUS.