Judge, 1909-05-29 · page 12 of 20
Judge — May 29, 1909 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**Main Comic Strip (Top):** This is a tall-tale sequence featuring Captain Fibb, a stereotypical seafaring raconteur spinning increasingly absurd stories. In this episode, he claims to have nearly married a mermaid he met while pearl diving, encountered Neptune himself, but was pulled away by his crew before completing the wedding. The humor relies on the classic "fisherman's exaggeration" trope—obviously fictional, presented as fact. **Bottom Cartoons:** Two brief jokes: "Natural Environment" plays on Irish immigrant dialect (Pat and Larry), joking that an overturned car in mud resembles a turtle. "Color Blind" depicts a servant so color-blind she can't distinguish tea colors, leading to a punchline about buying her a "Directoire gown" (fashionable women's wear) so she'll beg for the privilege of wearing it—implying women care more about fashion than practicality. **Context:** These represent typical Judge magazine humor: tall tales, ethnic stereotypes (Irish accents), and gentle mockery of women's fashion obsession—all common early 20th-century American comic conventions.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE YARNS OF CAPTAIN FIBB. ! PORT THE An FORD I Bouton Ox meet my — — wr _ A 1. ‘Whosaid thereain't no mermaids? Why, 2. —— Well, the bewitchin’ critter sidles 3. ——And I'm blest if the old codger wuzn't I wuz nearly married to one once. I wuz at the right up to me, a-smi d leads me along by old Neptune, the king of the ocean himself, and bottom of the Indian Ocean a-divin’ fer pearls the hand to where ‘sa white-whiskered old the beautiful maid was his daughter. Then 1 along comes the purtiest mermaid I ever gent a-sittin’ on a kind of throne. — ups and asks him fer the fair lady's hand, — w! She was that beautiful it made me restless to look at her. —— WE routs Ou slereac ED: " | Ae, i ' hen old Nep. he gits a-telephonin’ 5. —— But jist then I feels a tug on the rope minister while me and me lady love wuz behind me and the next minute I goes a-shootin’ ‘They hauled me up and spoiled ev n’ and a-cooin’ as happy as two turtle- up through the water to the top. —— when I wuz havin’ the time of me life! And 1 doves, and I says to meself, says 1, ‘Bill, yer a never could find the lovely critter again.” ! lucky dog,” says LL—— x NATURAL ENVIRONMENT. COLOR BLIND. Larry—* Phwat 's th’ excitement, Pat 2” Servant—'* A pound of tea for the missus.” Pat—' Shure, an’ th’ automobile has turned turtle.” Grocer—"* Green or black 2" Larry—" Turned turtle, eh? Bedad, Oi bet thot 's th’ reason Servant —' Shure, ayther will do. She's as. blind as a ut choose a mud puddle.’* bat!”’ OZ Zaaa—=— st WALL PHILOSOPHY. “Say, that’s great! Got tem el, haven't “Easy, my boy. Buy your wife a Directoire x Jones? How 'd you do it?” and she "ll bey, for the privilege." comicbooks.com