Judge, 1907-08-03 · page 7 of 16
Judge — August 3, 1907 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a children's comic strip featuring "Little Johnny" (a popular character of the era) and teddy bears—toys named after President Theodore Roosevelt, whose nickname was "Teddy." The strip plays on the absurdity of toy bears mimicking human behavior. The humor centers on the bears' comic incompetence: they eagerly follow Johnny into the ocean for a swim but panic when they realize they'll sink (being stuffed toys). Johnny finds this hilarious. The final panel reveals the joke's visual punchline—each teddy bear has a distinctively odd foot visible in the illustration, emphasizing their nature as manufactured objects attempting human activities. The satire gently mocks both the teddy bear craze that swept America after Roosevelt's 1902 bear-hunting incident, and children's naive assumptions that toys function like living creatures. It's lighthearted social commentary on consumer culture and childhood imagination.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
LITTLE JOHNNY AND THE TEDDY BEARS. THE TEDDIES FOLLOW JOHNNY FOR A SWIM, AND COME OUT MUCH QUICKER THAN THEY WENT IN. THE REASON YOU'LL FIND BELOW. 1. How glorious on a red-hot day 2. The Teddies nearly faint with fright To have near by a nice cool bay! When Johnny dives clear out of sight. Here's Johnny, sweating at every pore, They never saw a boy before With Teddies hastening to the shore. Leap in the ocean from the shore. 3. The imps are just about to weep 4. And now the Teds, with a broad grin, When Johnny bobs up from the deep. Think they will try it, and Jump in. And then it dawns on one by one And then comes Johnny's turn for fright, That Johnny ‘s simply having fun. When all the Teds sink out of sight. am a) 6. You see here six small faces glum, While one alone is smiling some. By looking closer you will see The queer foot on each Teddy B, COPYRIGHT 1907 RY JUDGE COMPANY, PUBLISHERS, 225 FOURTH AVE., NEW YORK. comicbooks.com