Judge, 1913-12-13 · page 14 of 24
Judge — December 13, 1913 — page 14: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a **silent film parody page** from Judge magazine. The top section presents "The Fast Days of Pump'ay"—a mock film serial showing characters named Pump'ay, Hokus Pokus, Jupe Pluvius, and Xemius Seizher in melodramatic scenarios involving threats, arrests, and rescues. The plot appears nonsensical, a satire of overwrought silent-film narratives common in the 1920s. Below are three brief comic exchanges mocking different character types: a mentor offering clichéd wisdom about owls, a gallery owner seeking "funny pictures," and an elderly couple's marriage described with the pun "granny hitch." The final line is a practical joke: suggesting readers use their neighbor's telephone to reduce costs—satirizing post-WWI economic hardship and penny-pinching behavior. The overall tone ridicules both silent cinema melodrama and contemporary social pretension, with the "Pump'ay" serial as the primary comedic vehicle through absurdist plot synopsis.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
JUDGE'S MOTION PICTURES PUMP'AY THREATENS TROUBLE TO HOKUS POKUS IF NOT FREED The Fast Days of Pump‘ay; A Poser Mentor—Consider the owl. He's the bird of wisdom, and he gets his reputa- tion by keeping silent. Stentor—How about the screech owl? Happy is the man who remembers he has forgotten no one’s Christmas tip. H THREATENS TO} EXPOSE_NOK YOMICUS} TO JUPE PLUVIUS UNLESS PUMP'AY, 1S FREED JUPE PLUvIUS THREATENS REVOLUTION 50 PUMP'AY 1S RELEASED His Favorites Nurich (furnishing his gallery)—Let me see. I've got lots of the old masters now, haven't I? Clerk—Yes, sir. Nurich—Now V'll want something for myself, What have you in cartoons and funny pictures? or, When in Rome Be Done as the Romans Are Done The Ancient Bond Starr—He was seventy and she was sixty-eight when they married. What sort of a nuptial knot did the parson tie? Marr—Oh, a granny hitch! To help reduce the h. c. of |. and get cheap talk use your neighbor’s telephone. comicbooks.com