Judge, 1907-07-27 · page 16 of 16
Judge — July 27, 1907 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This comic strip depicts a slapstick mishap involving a boy and anthropomorphic teddy bears attempting to paint a barn. The bears are likely references to "Teddy Bears"—a popular toy craze inspired by President Theodore Roosevelt's hunting exploits, which had exploded in popularity around 1906-1907. The humor is straightforward physical comedy: Johnny and the bears plan to earn money painting a barn blue, but their suspended paint shelf catastrophically collapses, sending them plummeting. The final panel introduces absurdist confusion when an elderly woman carrying an enormous bundle arrives, and the narrator expresses bewilderment about whether she's somehow involved in their fate. The satire appears to mock the teddy bear craze's ubiquity by treating the toys as real characters in an ordinary situation, subverting expectations through unexpected chaos. The dated drawing style and sentimental verse-captions are typical of Judge magazine's approach to humor.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
uae. LITTLE JOHNNY AND THE TEDDY BEARS..- THEY 00 OUT OM A SIGN-PAINTING EXPEDITION, WHICH ENDS IM A WAY THAT SURPRISES THEM VERY MUCH. 1. Just how this enterprise arose 2. In short, John ‘s hit upon a plan fe will not stop’now to disclose. To @ Some money—all he can. Suffice to tell what they will do: He thinks he'll paint papa's barn blue, They're going forth to paint things blue. And get pald for it when he's through. ed 3. The shelf 's drawn up, the work begins; 4. But suddenly the painting stops Each Ted slaps on blue paint and grins. Because the hanging paint-shelf drops, No doubt the barn will look quite gay And John and Teds and paints and all If It's all going to look that way. Are in it for a first-class fa'l. 5. Now, here's what we don't understand: 6. An extra ton or so of freight Just as our painters want to land Is just a flea-bite on her Comes this old woman toting home Where Teds are bound for we can't say. A great big bundle on her dome. We only know they're on the way. COPYRIGHT 1907 BY JUDGE COMPANY, PUBLIEXERS, #95 FOURTH AVE, KEW YORE. comicbooks.com