Judge, 1915-07-17 · page 11 of 28
Judge — July 17, 1915 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes early 20th-century courtship and male selfishness through two connected pieces. **The top cartoon** mocks a suitor earning only nine dollars weekly—an inadequate income for marriage. The father dismisses him as a poor prospect, while the daughter defends him romantically. The satire targets class consciousness in marriage markets. **The main story "Autolatory"** (a pun on "auto" + "idolatry") follows a man named Rogers who realizes—too late—that his entire courtship was self-centered. He called her daily for *his* pleasure, pursued her for *his* satisfaction, never considering *her* happiness or interests. The revelation comes when she phones to end things. The story's moral: his selfishness destroyed the relationship. **The final illustrated vignette** shows a woman teaching a child that even dogs bite their own noses when selfish—a crude visual metaphor for self-destruction through narcissism. The page's repeated theme: masculine self-absorption ruins romance. The closing definition of "personality" suggests character matters more than looks—a progressive note for the era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
HER IDE Papa—Why, hang it, girl, that fellow only earns nine dollars a week! so quickly when you're A U T O L ECHANICALLY he hung up the receiver. His face looked empty. There was no mistaking the meaning in the voice he had just heard, for she had made him understand at last. Ye gods, how long he seemed to have been deaf! Rogers never credited himself with subtle qualities, but it did seem now that his faculties might have been penetrable. Quite the contrary, else why had he not seen long ago that she was cold tohim? It was imbecile. Think of her suffering all these months while he claimed proprietorship! Till now, when she is forced to explain that she must be released! Not that she used these words, but she finally did make him com- prehend. How he had doted on the sound of her voice coming to him over the wire! So he had called her up al- most daily. She had said that he might do so, he had felt that he must do so, and time was when his greeting awakened an unmis- takable echo from her—an answer- ing thrill. He tried to remember how long ago that was. He could not. An- other proof of his lack. Ugh! it was crude! Absence of sensibilities! How he hated himself, yet how he wondered about her! Is it possible that he had long since ceased to give her any delight—only torture? ‘* See,the poor doggie, mother. A OF IT : Pleading daughter—Yes; but, daddy dear, a week passes fond of one another. A T R Y Then it flashed what discord his voice must have meant to her —how little himself had grown to signify. For all at once it ap- peared emphatic that he had been thinking of himself—of almost only himself! He had forgotten her happiness, her interests, her personality. Himself dominated completely. It was uncivilized, savage. Selfishness can go no further. Over and over in his mind thes¢ thoughts revolved. They forced the truth upon him that all he had done for her he had done only for himself—and so really not for her at all. It had not even been for them both—which would have, perhaps, redeemed the situation —but merely for his own selfish self. Well, hewould takehis medicine. He had got to take it. He had lost her, and his reward was just. But the pity of it all—for her; the injus- tice—for her! Heaven witness! . . . ee And everybody said, ‘‘What has come over Rogers? He never seemed to promise to amount to anything till of late. Guess he’s a good deal of a man, after all. Seems to have stopped taking himself too seri- ously !’* —George Weedonag. Got It? “What is personality?’’ ‘Personality is what makes a success of a star who has no looks He bit his own nose off!" and can’t sing, dance or act.’” comicbooks.com