Judge, 1908-07-25 · page 16 of 16
Judge — July 25, 1908 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a humorous six-panel children's story from Judge magazine (1908) with no political content. It depicts Little Johnny and anthropomorphic teddy bears seeking relief from summer heat by swimming in a forbidden pond. The bears remove their clothes and enter the water; meanwhile, a goat eats their garments. When the bears discover their missing clothes, they find only a clown's cap and ballet skirt belong to Teddy Bear. Johnny must wear the ballet skirt home, arriving "bashful and unhappy." The joke relies on physical comedy and gender humor typical of early 1900s children's entertainment—a boy forced to wear girls' clothing becomes the punchline. The story serves primarily as advertising for an upcoming "Little Johnny and the Teddy Bears" book series.
📄 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. FROM SUMMER'S HEAT THEY SEEK RELIEF, BUT SWIMMING BRINGS POOR JOHN TO GRIEF. 2. ‘They care not that it is forbidden, | But count on staying safely hidden. | ‘Their simple clothes aside they fing And gleeful in the water spring. 3. They splash about and duck and swim wake Within the cool pond’s narrow rim 1 mean, oh, Teddies, cease your fun! Calmly and lazily they float, For, lo! the goat, in peaceful pose, Not heeding an approaching goat. Is gayly eating up your clothes. 5. Oh, woe! oh, grief! What shall we do? 6, However, all the Teds decide ‘The goat's gone, but the clothes are, too. ‘That ballet skirt shall Johnny hide; A clown’s cap and a skirt are there, So wanders homeward, quaintly clad, But these belong to ‘Teddy Bear. A bashful and unhappy lad. COPYRIGHT 1908 BY JUDGE COMPANY, PUBLISHERS, FIFTH AVENUE AND MADIDON BQUARE, KEW YORK. The First Series of the adver by book dealers everywh: sof "Little Rears” is now ready prive by Judge Comp comicbooks.com