Judge, 1912-02-24 · page 5 of 24
Judge — February 24, 1912 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes the card game bridge through a humorous essay framed as a "symphony." The illustration shows a fashionable woman in profile, dressed in elegant Edwardian-era clothing, playing cards at a table. The text humorously describes bridge not as a true "game" but as a ritualized social performance causing "fatigue and loss of temper and appetite." It mocks the elaborate etiquette surrounding bridge—including coded language ("Shall I make it a diamond?"), the dramatic declarations of players, and the social pretension of bridge parties among the wealthy. The satire targets how bridge had become a fashionable obsession among upper-class Americans in the early 20th century, transforming a card game into an exhausting social institution governed by arbitrary rules and snobbish conventions.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
A SYMPHONY. Soy AB. ~ ve en SG The Game of Bridge. THs really should not be classified as a game, because a game, according to the dictionary, is a contrivance to furnish amusement. Bridge is a species of serious labor, resulting in fatigue and loss of temper and appetite. The game is played with a prize, a pack of cards, and four fiends. The only con- versation allowed is asking your partner why he or she made such an asinine play. The dummy is a player who trumps his or her partner's trick or fails to play into the partner’s hand. A slam is a remark made behind the back of the winner, to the effect that said winner played as if said winner needed money and would probably pawn the prize. The game is called bridge because the play- ers often have to go to the bank in order to come across. A long suit is that worn by the male players at a formal bridge set-to. It is accompanied by a long face and shed with a long sigh of satisfaction. A heart declaration is sometimes made by a player with a long suit when he is holding a weak little hand. The player with the long suit then says, ‘‘Shall I make it adiamond?"’ and the owner of the weak little hand says, ‘Pray do.’’ This is called playing with finesse. Tricks are various strata- gems by which the game is won. They are played with the feet, eyes, hands, ete. They are perfectly legitimate, if not discovered by the opponents. Per- dition is a bridge term denoting the loca- tion that an inexperienced player is siléntly invited to visit by the old hand who is his partner. It is a place where all hands will be thrown down when Gabriel plays his last trump. Bridge is sometimes played for money, like poli- tics, love, and poker. A bridge party is a party with no reciprocity or protec- tion plank in its platform. With these few definitions, you should be able to tell bridge from tigers, elephants, or any other kind of wild game. comicbooks.com