Judge, 1908-12-12 · page 10 of 16
Judge — December 12, 1908 — page 10: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a six-panel comic strip satirizing a character called "Nervy Nat," who attempts to attend the opera without a ticket or invitation. The humor derives from his audacious con-artist schemes: he borrows a fur coat to hide grease stains, bluffs his way past a doorman with threats to complain to "Mr. Hatchetstein" (likely a theater magnate), sneaks into the Diamond Horseshoe box seats, and disrupts the performance with loud, vulgar commentary comparing the opera unfavorably to a funeral and a Democratic party gathering. The satire mocks both Nat's brazen working-class pretensions and upper-class opera culture itself. His constant chatter annoys singers, leads to his arrest, and he's finally ejected by a police officer. The strip ridicules social climbing and the stuffiness of high-society entertainment venues, while Nat's unrefined behavior suggests class-based humor typical of early-1900s American comic magazines.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
1. Nervy Nat—‘* A fur overcoat covers a multitude of grease spots and fag 2 Doorman—** "That card don't go I don't know you ” ends. I borrowed this frou 1; hope he won't miss it; but 1 must hear Nervy Nat—* You wasted your breath telling me that; a look at your the opera to-night—that is, if I don't get the gate. Well, here's luck, anyway ” mush indicates that you know nothing, let alone recognizing talent. If you don't want me to bring this matter up personally with Mr. Hatchetstein, just open the drawbridge and allow me to pass, varlet!”” 4. Nervy Nat—“Grandissimo, fortissimo, elegantina, punkerino, golly! (Yaw) This opera is as gloomy as the Democratic party 1 wish I had gone to some first-class funeral. I could pass into peaceful slumber right now.”* 3. Nervy Nat but how long * box-car, 1 obse cop out this cell in the diamond horseshoe, Mrs, Van Astorichs van Bing in the next my shell-like ear. Beastly manners, | must °5, The tenor and contralto—" eee bal eee e-e-0-€-0-0-6,"" iBingd Nervy Nat they are always bu coiffures get muss is strange, Mr. Officer, how music will move one, how it now? Drat those cats, permeates one’s very ally here's where a few Cop—""If yez have any literary masterpieces that yez want to get out av your system jist tell ‘em to the judge to-morrer, I've no time to listen to yez."" NERVY NAT BECOMES A GRAND OPERA ENTHUSIAST. NOTE.-The First Series of Nervy Nat's Adventures is now ready, handsomely bound in book form. Price, 75 cents; 10 cents additional tor postage when ordered by mall. Address JUDGE COMPANY, 225 Fitth Avenue, New York. comicbooks.com