Judge, 1910-05-14 · page 9 of 16
Judge — May 14, 1910 — page 9: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a humorous six-panel comic strip featuring an unnamed sea captain telling increasingly absurd stories. The running joke is the captain's use of an "X-ray machine" aboard his ship—a contemporary technology (X-rays were discovered in 1895) that appears anachronistic and fantastical for nautical adventure. The plot: a crew member named Mizzen Mike disappears; the captain uses X-ray technology to search inside whales and a bull, eventually finding Mike alive inside the whale's stomach, completely unharmed. The humor derives from the tall-tale tradition of maritime exaggeration combined with the comic incongruity of applying cutting-edge science to impossible situations. The accompanying theatrical notes discuss contemporary Broadway productions, including a reference to Rostand's "Chantecler" (a 1910 play about a rooster), which was actually performed successfully—making the satire about hens abandoning farms to pursue stage careers a joke about art's romantic appeal.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
JUDGE THE YARNS OF CAPTAIN FIBB. 1, “* Did I ever tell yez the story of the mysterious disappearance of Mizzen Mike and she strange way we found him? Well, one moran’ he wuz miss- in’, and there wuz no sign of him ‘ceptin’ his cap and pipe, which wuz ly'a’ oa deck. 4. —— Well, we looks inter every one of ‘em and finds nothin’ till we comes to an old bull, and when I fixes the X-rays on him, blow me to blaz- es if there wuzn't Mike a-settin’ in its stomach lookin’ dejected and despairin'-like.—— 2, —— We scoured the bottom of the ocean, and we scoured the top of the ocean, but nary a hai head could we find 5. ——Then we throws the harpoon inter the big mammal and tows him ashore. —— 3, —— Bimeby we runs inter a school of whales, and I sez, ‘ Boys,’ sez I, ‘it's our last chanst to find him,’ sez I, and we manned a boat and took arter ‘em with an X-ray machine. f his And when I cuts a big in its side, out crawls Mizzen Mike as sound as a dol- lar, just like nothin’ had hap- pened !"° THEATRICAL NOTES. By HORACE DObD GASTIT FEPMOND ROSTAND'S new comedy, “The Lobster,”” in which all the characters were to be shell-fish, has been pigeonholed by the management of the Theater Francaise, owing to the apparent impossibility of finding a comedian who can put action into the role of the oyster. It is rumored along the Rialto that a prominent manager has recently written to Mr. William Shakespeare, of Stratford-on-Avon, offering him large inducements to come to this country and dramatize the Hon. Theodore Roosevelt. The reply is awaited with eager interest. That the drama should affect the price of edible commodities seems almost a preposterous thing, but it is whispered that the high price of eggs at the present time is entirely due to the successful production of Ros- tand’s “* Chantecler”’ at Paris, thou- sands of hens having left the farms in hope of going on the stage. We fear there will be some broken hearts when they reach Broadway. Snappy Maginnis is making a great hit in vaudeville this week with hia splendid song, ‘ Her Face Would Stop un Eight-day Clock, but - Oh, Her Bank Account!” The Skid- doo Theater looks like a Caruso night fourteen times a week. A new thriller suggested for the circus consists of a subway car, packed with men ard women—the latter wearing hatpins— looping three loops, and after turning two somersaults landing in a pool of water, to be received there by a guard wearing full evening drese, reading a copy of Wilberforce Jenkins’s book, “Etiquette for the Million.” It is eaid to be the most amaz- ing and astounding aerial accomplishment of the eons. LOVE WILL FIND A WAY. How Jumbo being bashful, popped the question to Miss Behemoth. comicbooks.com