Judge, 1907-06-22 · page 7 of 16
Judge — June 22, 1907 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a comic strip satirizing American social climbing and pretense. "Nervy Nat" is an impostor posing as "Lord Somerville," a British nobleman, to gain entry into exclusive hotel spaces and services. The humor centers on his elaborate fake credentials and affected speech patterns ("m'lud," references to railroad lines and British titles). The satire targets multiple subjects: 1) American deference to foreign nobility; 2) The ease with which a con artist can exploit class-consciousness; 3) The absurdity of the wealthy's lifestyle (expensive rugs, imperial suites); 4) Nat's criminal opportunism—he explicitly compares this fraud to stealing from baby carriages, suggesting he's a career criminal. The joke is that Nat successfully infiltrates "swell" society simply through bluffing and affected manners, exposing how superficial and gullible the wealthy are.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
1. Crerx (at Walled Off Pasturia)—** Will you register, my lord?” Nervy Nat—"' This menial addresses me as if | were a gas-meter. Will I register? Just watch me. I'll put aname in this autograph-album that will make the rest look like five-cents’ worth of peanuts.‘ Nervy—er—Sir Reginald Somerville, N.G., B. & O., P.D.Q.,.N. Y.C. & H.R. R:, London.” How does that scrape you?” O'Toote (at the door)—"* Well, blame me oyes if he don’t bate th’ world ata bluff!" 3. Nervy Nat—"' That's right, Algernon: make yourself luxurious, and curl up on that $40,000 Persian rug and take a siesta. I'll just burn up this per- fecto and form a ways-and-means committee of one. By the ozone of fried onions! if there isn't that fungus growth with the discursive eye prowling back and forth on the hall Axminster.”” 5, Warrer—"' Your dinner, m’lud.”” Nervy Nat—" Well, for—for this relief, gargon, much thanks—relief mentally and in the interior of my sub-cellar. Just put it in the trough, and shut the gate after you as you leave, please.” ? STo ‘ y Oe 8 us me . Nervy Nat—" Well, so far, so good. ward! The imperial suite! Now, who in stewed prunes is that mug hold- ig up yon post? He certainly is not one of this bunch. That fungus growth, as it were, is just at the present juncture the only militant feature of the situation—the nature-fakir, so to speak. in an otherwise peaceful vacation time. Mayhap he is nobody, and mayhap he is a detective anxious to spot his lordship's duds.”* 4. Nervy Nar—"Great Julius Cesar! what was that? A knock on the door. The last time I heard a knock like that it belonged toa vinegary friend named Caduc of Paree. Lord Somerville, old boy, you are losing your sang. froid, Brace up! Come, Algernon: we'll ope yon door and face the music.” 6, Nervy Nar—' Algernon, I feel rather ashamed of myself, after all. This is so much easier than taking milk-bottles out of baby-carriages in the park It Is frightfully fatiguing to get a living so effortlessly. Here's to you! How do you like the imperial dining-room ? Costs all it's worth—yes ?"" NO. 3—NERVY NAT, STILL IN THE GUISE OF LORD SOMERVILLE, TAKES QUARTERS AT A SWELL HOTEL. comicbooks.com