Judge, 1915-08-14 · page 12 of 28
Judge — August 14, 1915 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three satirical pieces typical of early-20th-century Judge magazine humor. **"The Hotel Lobby"** catalogs recognizable social types found in hotel lobbies—the self-important businessman with his ostentatious watch, the cheap salesman, the mining-scheme promoter, the glamorously dressed woman eager for public admiration. The satire mocks both the pretentious guests and the author himself for analyzing them. By S. Spitzer. **Top cartoon**: Agnes and Andrew observe an "ordinary-looking person" golfing. Andrew identifies him as "Jones, the author" of a bestselling book about golf. The joke: despite writing popular instructional content, Jones appears incompetent at the actual activity—satire of how-to authors lacking genuine expertise. **"A Summer Martyr"**: A woman attempts to tan but only sunburns, mocking the Edwardian beauty ideal of tanned skin (then fashionable and laboriously pursued). **"The Eternal Feminine"**: Peck offers his wife a taxicab ride; she refuses because taxis are "cheap things"—satirizing feminine materialism and status consciousness.
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Agnes—Who is that ordinary-looking person holing out over there ? popular books of the year. Agnes— Fiction? The Hotel Lobby “HE HOTEL lobby is a fine place to study human nature. There is the man who expects a long-dis- tance call from Cleveland, Everybody within twenty feet of him knows that he owns a gold hunting-case watch the size of atomato. The head of his cane will be chewed off in another half hour. There is the man who has just eaten dinner in a side-street beanery. He is smoking what the ad writers call ‘the most temptincly delicious of all five-cent cigarettes." He has nothing in particular to do, and does it with admirable nonchalance. There is the apparel buyer from St. Louis, and the affable salesman who will show him a few things about the big town they overlooked in the guide books. The buyer is mentally estimating how large an order the evening's entertainment will call for. There is the white-haired gentleman with the panama hat, excessively mustached and smelling of bay and West Indian rum, who is promoting a wonderful mining scheme, in addi- tion to several other little propositions. All the bellhops are onto him, There is the lady who used to be head model in Chump- son's. She is attired so magnificently that it really hurts the eyes. Her husband, who is in cloaks and suits, will take her into the dining-room soon. The captainof the main eats pavilion has been fixed and will lead her to a table at the end of the main aisle, where appreciation is keenest and most audible. There are lots of other unmistakable types in the hotel lobby, including the man who is foolish enough to sit down and ana- lyze them, —S. Spitzer, Andrew—That's Jones, the author. Wrote one of the most Andrew— Absolutely. It is entitled, * What | Krow About Golf.” A Summer Martyr BE a nutbrown maid she planned, And figured out none could resist her. Her days she spent in getting tanned, But found that she would only blister. -— Fl 5. — THE ETERNAL FEMININE Peck—At last, my dear, I can afford to take you to the depot in a taxicab. Mrs, Peck—Never! I 'wouldn’t ride in the cheap things now.