Judge, 1916-11-18 · page 13 of 28
Judge — November 18, 1916 — page 13: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a humorous dialogue between two Jewish immigrant characters—Max Markowitz (a manufacturer) and Henry Shapiro (his bookkeeper)—debating whether to attend the opera or go ice skating. The cartoon satirizes early 20th-century immigrant life and class aspirations. Markowitz complains his wife Minnie constantly pressures him to take her to the opera, framing it as a status symbol ("Style! Style!"). He objects on practical grounds: it's expensive, he can't understand it, and he'd rather relax at home playing cards. The humor derives from his malapropisms ("ultimata" for ultimatum), Yiddish-inflected English ("Oder opera oder rink!"), and his befuddled resistance to cultural pretension. The satire targets both the nouveaux-riche immigrant desire for "high culture" respectability and the working-class husband's resistance to his wife's social climbing. The opera represents aspirational Americanization among immigrant communities of the era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
He—Lord Dunsary has never married, has he? MARKOWITZ AND HENRY DISCUSS THE: OPERA Lot “ AY and night, night and . it’s the same thin, com- plained Max Markowitz to Henry Shapiro. his book- keeper and brother-in-law, as they were about to leave for lunch. When I get up in the morn- ing it’s ‘Max, will we go skating this winter?” and when [go to sleep at night it’s ‘Max, will we go to the opera this season?” Every day the same question, with the same argu- ments. I try to tell her about Mrs Steinburg. the estatnik’s wife, what sprained a foot by the rink so that for a whole month she couldn't go out even collect: the rent; and that what it costs by the opera one ticket. she could go fifty times by the movies. But talk to her and talk to the Statue of Liberty! She hears you just the same! To tell the truth, Henry, | think the Statue of Liberty was put up as a joke on the married men. What liberty have [ got in this country when [can’t do what Twant myself? Last night’ Minnie gave me a—a-—what do you call it what one country sends to the other when she's real to fight?” An ultimata,” su “Yes, she gives me an ultimata, “To-night I got to give her an answer. Oder opera oder rink! Her dressmaker can’t wait any longer. Oder 1 go where the orchester don't let_ me sleep or where the crowds don’t let me rest. It’s like asking an Englishman, now, where he would like to go for pleasure—to Berlin or Vien? 1am dying to stay home and play a little auction and she, Oi! You might so well ested Henry. continued Markowitz She—No: he only just lost his money RAK ask a frommen vid it he wants pigs’ feet or lobster salad? I don’t know what——” “Nu,” interrupted Henry. “What would it hoit you, if you go skating a couple times a week?” “Believe me, it would hoit me enough,” replied Markowitz with an aflirmative gesture. “Skating ain't made for a manu- facturer with a rating. It's for loafers and children. Style! Style! That's why Minnie is so crazy about it, Thank God, ilying ain't in style yet ‘You're up in the air enough already.” jested Henry. “Then why not take the least from the two troubles, and go to the opera?” “Go to the opera?” mimicked Markowitz. “By you it’s a notting? It costs you something? Yes—go to the opera and see Katz sitting in the orchester when [’m in the second balcony! Yes—let- Minnie see more and morer styles, more than what is good for her and my pocketbook. Swallow the supper quick like in the moving picktches, so to get there by eight o'clock. Spend two dollars a seat for what's a front row from the back. and so high that a king on the stage looks like a two-spot, “But ain’t there notting to the music, the opera, the plot?” persisted Henry: “What music? what opera? what plot?” repeated Marko- witz. “Do I understand them? The only thing what I understand is the stiletto! It cuts the biggest figger by operas. There is more people killed in one opera than in ten dramas.” “Then why don’t you get a libretto so that you know what they're talking about?” demanded Henry. “It’s woise,” replied Markowitz. “Last season Minnie had comicbooks.com