Judge, 1907-04-06 · page 5 of 16
Judge — April 6, 1907 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a whimsical children's comic strip with no apparent political satire. The narrative follows anthropomorphized teddy bears who sneak into a circus by hiding in a barrel, then cause chaos by disrupting performances—Johnny uses bread to distract a giraffe, they scare a hippopotamus, and eventually borrow a wagon to escape with their newfound animal companions. The strip appears to be pure entertainment rather than social commentary. The "Teddy Bears" reference likely alludes to the popularity of teddy bear toys (named after President Theodore Roosevelt), which were a cultural phenomenon in the early 1900s when this Judge issue was published. The comic simply capitalizes on this toy craze's appeal to young readers without embedding political meaning.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE TEDDY BEARS. THEY GET INTO THE CIRCUS BY A CURIOUS TRICK, AND THEN MEET WITH A RATHER SHOCKING SURPRISE: FAKEUM «> SKINNUW'S | GREATESY SHOW OW Fy ae 1, Now, boys and girls, just use your eyes 2, Johnny holds up a plece of bread; And you will get a great surprise; The tall giraffe pokes out his head. For John 's made up his,minid to go They grab his long, slim neck, and he And take his Teddies to this show. Just lifts them over the fence, you see. 3. Then off they go, as happy as can be, 4. The hippopotamus laughed so hard The wonderful circus sights to see. He opened his mouth about a yard. You ought to see the animals laugh The Teddies thought he was going to bite, At the trick John played on the tall giraffe.” And fainted dead away with fright. 5. Poor Johnny, you see, is almost daft, 6. red ceed borrows a wagon small And the big hippo ts sorry he laughed; And loads into it the Teddies all. For there's no way to bring the Teddies round Next week, if everything goes well, But to give them some more of the wonderful compound. There ‘Il be another story to tell. COPYRIGHT 1907 BY JUDGE COMPANY, PUBLISERS, 225 FOURTH AVE, KEW YORK. comicbooks.com