Judge, 1913-12-06 · page 23 of 40
Judge — December 6, 1913 — page 23: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This story-cartoon satirizes wealthy New York society women of the early 20th century. Olivia and Beatrice are fashionable socialites with wealthy but inattentive husbands—men with "practically unlimited pecuniary resource" who are absent and indifferent to their wives' needs. The satire targets the transactional nature of their marriages: Olivia manipulates her husband John by casually mentioning desired luxuries at dinner, then securing his compliance through affection ("kiss him much as a canary bird pecks at a bit of sugar"). The text mocks both the women's superficiality—their obsession with the latest Paris fashions and jewelry—and the men's detachment, suggesting New York's wealthy are so distracted by leisure and "many appeals to all sorts of fancies" that genuine marital connection is impossible. The "turning point" likely refers to some crisis emerging from this hollow arrangement, though the full story would require reading further.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
WANT that !"’ said Oliv- ia, with just a tremor of excitement, to her com- panion, Beatrice; then, think- ing unselfishly that Beatrice might have designs upon it, she added, ‘‘unless you've set your mind upon it, dear.’"” They were in front of a Fifth Avenue jeweler's window, and a magnificent pearl neck- lace was the object. “Why, my dear,’” mY 4% es My as said Beatrice, ‘‘you saw it first!’” And they went into the jeweler’s. A salesman who looked more prosperous than many a proprietor came forward. Yes, he said, this was the most beautiful pearl necklace on the It was from a royal collection which had been sold to a war fund. The price he put upon it was staggering. 'm sure John will get that for me if I give him a hint,’’ said Olivia, as she and Beatrice sailed down the Avenue. It was the habit of Olivia and Beatrice to sail down the Avenue, after they had come from a fashionable district uptown in the limousine of one or the other of them, animating male observ- ers and embittering the minds of most women they encountered. For Olivia and Beatrice almost daily gave remarkable shapes and individual elements of distinction to Paris gowns, wraps, millinery and accessories of various phases of fashion. They always embodied the very latest syllables in smartness. Olivia and Beatrice were both married happily. That is to FB DT PARES ey ee . THE TURNING POINT # & By J. A. WALDRON BAe say, each had a husband of practically unlimited pecu- ¥ niary resource, neither saw her husband much, and each enjoyed a liberty which means something in New York. It may be that both hus- bands might have liked more marital attention. Yet ‘one cannot be surer as to just what would please a New York man with plenty of money and ample leisure than one can be as to just what would please a New York woman in like circum- stances with a complaisant husband. New York is a large town, with many appeals to all sorts of fancies. Olivia did not need this pearl necklace. She had jewelry enough to stock a shop. But what one needs and what one wants are differing propositions. This was the Christmas sea- son, and many a woman has a caprice around holiday time that would seem eccentric at another season. Whenever Olivia wanted anything, she did not ask for it with vulgar directness. At dinner with John at home—and this mutual function was infrequent—she would merely remark that she had seen this 1-o-v-e-l-y thing or that. John would just say, “Yes?"’ his rising inflection being equivalent to another man’s “T'll go and buy it for you.’ And at some moment when the butler and the other servants were out of sight, Olivia would lounge over to John’s side of the table and kiss him much as a canary bird pecks at a bit of sugar. That always settled it. aa ts ae 2B OG comicbooks.com