Judge, 1906-06-09 · page 16 of 16
Judge — June 9, 1906 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This comic strip satirizes a brash American character, "Nervy Nat," who crashes London's high society at the opera (Covent Garden). The humor hinges on his complete lack of social awareness and pretension. Nat brazenly enters aristocratic boxes uninvited, speaks familiarly to King Edward VII as "Ed," insults the opera performance and other attendees with crude comments, and pretends to know people he's just met. He calls opera singers "greasers" and dismisses the audience as "riff-raff." The satire targets American wealth and vulgarity encountering British class hierarchies. Nat represents the stereotype of the unsophisticated American tourist who, armed with money and confidence, assumes he belongs anywhere and shows contempt for European refinement. His repeated phrase "I'll sit down and see this out" reflects oblivious determination to stay where he's unwelcome—the entire joke being his social blindness.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
1, Nervy Nat—"' Gee! this weather 's wet enough to dissolve parlia- ment. This is the height of the season at that. As | have never bean to the opera in London, to-night {s a good one. | will follow these alleged nobs to their kennel."* 3. Mr. ano Mrs. MARMALADE—"* How dare you, sir? What do you mean by coming Into our box? Police!” Nervy Nat—"'I will treat these parvenus as they deserve—with cold- storage Indifference. And, luckily, their middle-class outcries are smoth- ered by the young riot that {s in full blast near that stogie-factory on the rostrum."* pray introduce us His mayesty- Who are those persons with you, Nat?” Nervy Na Great Scott, Ed! | don't know them any more than you do. I don't know how they got into this box. I expect they are just pushing sort of outsiders. But let's talk of something pleasant.” 2. Nervy Nar—"' Just one perch left, next to Liz with the suspenders. As the stage {s full of greasers, it must be ‘Carmen.’ Great tamales! ain't she the hard citizen—blowing cigarette smoke through her bugle! Now she’s trifling with Battery “A.” I'll sit down and see this out.”” 4. His majesty Eowarp VII.—** Well, bless my heart! if it tan‘t Nat! How the—how are you. old chep, anyway?” Nervy Nat— ‘Ed, put It there! Well, | never dreamt you had the next stateroom. How do you like the show? Pretty rotten, eh?_ Well, you see. the garglers you get In London are the mere riff-raff that Conried and Hammerstein don't import to us, you know.” "t ask you down to the house; but “Xan- ind | hate to wake her for a few minutes.” ‘a all right, Ed. My regards. - These impossible people insist on my going to the Savoy for a bit of grouse- Fearfully pushing, your cilmbers over here. So long!" ormnt i906 0 conPany runvontnsrrsfovntn we ntwrene. NERVY NAT GOES TO COVENT GARDEN. *