Judge, 1916-11-11 · page 9 of 28
Judge — November 11, 1916 — page 9: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a satirical piece about early automobile purchasing among Jewish immigrant businessmen in New York City, circa 1910s-1920s (based on the language and cultural references). **The Main Cartoon:** Two Jewish characters, Markowitz (a successful "skoit manufacturer"—likely garment industry) and Henry Shapiro (a bookkeeper), discuss buying a Speedwell automobile. Henry pressures Max by pointing out that even Katz's wife—whose husband was formerly a lowly floor-sweeper—now owns a car, making Max look behind the times. **The Satire:** The humor mocks: - The competitive consumerism among immigrants climbing the social ladder - Yiddish-inflected English speech patterns ("otomobile," "champanier") - The absurdity of car-buying justifications (wives are jealous, strikes make transit difficult) - Class anxiety: being outdone by social inferiors **The Bottom Cartoon:** Shows "Rich Uncle Hiram" offering a Ben Davis apple as payment to a waiter—mocking rural, old-fashioned immigrants out of touch with city sophistication. The overall point: satirizing immigrant assimilation through conspicuous consumption and status anxiety.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
WHY WE LAUGHED WHEN WE LOOKED OUT OF THE CAR WINDOW MARKOWITZ AND HENRY—They Discuss the Buying of an Automobile By LOU RAB Shapiro, the bookkeeper, to Max Markowitz his worried- don’t have to buy it if you don’t like it. Honest, Max, would looking boss and brother-in-law he pointed towards you worry now how toget tothe Bronx if you had an otomobile?”’ the curb of the street below. “ Didn’t I beg you with “Tf T had an otomobile?” mockingly repeated Markowitz before yet, talked with you till I got dry in the nec Max, with anger. “Why don’t you say ‘If I had a_ million ne, everybody buys one!’—' “ | OOK, look, across the way!” triumphantly cried Henry — Speedwells, and in five minutes you got a car, a dandy. You a good season, get a Speedwell !’— ise with an otomobile to the wall, it’s the same thing. Foist you said gasoline is so high like champanier. Then you said a five seater ain’t enough; you'll need a trolley car for all your relations what come back to life when you buy anoto. Then you said you don’t want to make people jealous; and now look! Ain't it cnough to make you feel like a back number farer back than Christopher Columbus, to see Katz & Co.'s wife, whose husband used to sweep the floor and carry bundles by you before he com- menced contracting by skoits, come in a swell, but not such a speedy, car like the Speedwell, to take Katz home. And besides her sits a sister with children and a Mrs. Kramer, what lives next door, with her baby. While for you—for you Max Markowitz, the leading skoit manufacturer what can shake Katz out from his sleeve when it comes to business—for you be your family will come, too, but ina different kind of an otomobile, if you don’t buy a Speedwell quick. How will you get home to-night? Ain’t you read in the papers what's going on by the car and subway strike what commenced this morning? Three times Minnie telephoned, when you was busy with that cutthroat buyer from Louisiana, that we shouldn't dare go home with the cross-town or subway where o ’ ag ‘ Miley ae seit i Rich Uncle Hiram (having treated his city niece and nephew to dinner at a metropolitan > + MAX, st you a * restaurant) — Here, young feller! you've waited on us pretty good and I'm goin’ to give me telephone to Izzy Lazarus, the agent from the ye’ one o' the biggest Ben Davis apples ever grew on my place. comicbooks.com