Judge, 1906-11-17 · page 16 of 16
Judge — November 17, 1906 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This six-panel comic strip follows "Nervy Nat," a hapless American character, through an ice-skating mishap in Paris. The humor relies on physical comedy and cultural collision: Nat encounters a French woman at an ice rink ("Palais de Glace"), doesn't realize she's married to a jealous French policeman (Monsieur Caduc), and inadvertently causes chaos—spinning her repeatedly until she's literally wound up like a top, then accidentally sitting on her during skating. The satire targets American naïveté abroad: Nat speaks broken French, misunderstands social conventions, and treats the situation with oblivious cheerfulness despite escalating disaster. The comic plays on stereotypes of Americans as bumbling foreigners and French husbands as absurdly jealous. The title character's "nerve" (audacity) is both his defining trait and the source of his downfall—typical of early Judge magazine's gentle mockery of American types.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
1. Nervy Nat—'t Chere madame—no; I'll say It In United States—be- loved skirt, through some inexplicable fortune, you seem to be without a partner. Will you make it my good fortune and do me the honor to whiz couple of whizzes on the congealed with me?” Chere mabame—" Aveck playzeer, monsieu’."* 2. Cuene mavame—"'Oh, here comes my husband. Monsieu’ Caduc! He Is so jealous!" e Nervy Nat— WHAT! Well, why in Paris didn t you say so?" Oh, ye gods! what have I done that such large consignments of misfortune and prepaid crates of trouble should be dumped on me? Why do they allow the police to marry?” 3, Nervy Nat—"' You'd better quit, Caduc; you've got your wife wound up now so she will go for eight days. And how was | to know she be- longed to you? I didn’t suppose a fine, big woman like this would tie up with a tile cop. Say, go around the other way for a change. One of my nervous headaches is 5. Nervy Nat—"Extry! extra! All about the horrible explosion! Full account of the loss of life! 1 see a soft place over there. | think I'll go over and fall on it. I'll wager there'll be enough cracked ice in the spot I've just left Mrs. Caduc to make eight million high-bi Nove.—The First Series of Nervy Nat's Adventures is now r when ordered by mail, A: 4. Nervy Nat—' Waltz me around again, Willie. Say, Caduc, we can't: keep this up forever, doncherknow—they'll be wanting to close up this Palais de Coldstorage.4 I didn't know you could skate. Something tells me this can't last ’— 6. Nervy Nat—"' Bawswar, monsieu’, madame! Are you looking for your little husband, madame? You are sitting on him, my very dear madame. May I call you an ambulance or something? No? Oh. very well. Then once more good-night and pleasant dreams."* . eel ca " NERVY NAT AT THE PALAIS DE GLACE, dy, handsomely bound, in book.form. Price, 75 cents ; s JuvGe Company, 225 Fourth Avenuc, New York, comicbooks.com