Judge, 1917-01-06 · page 9 of 32
Judge — January 6, 1917 — page 9: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satirical piece depicts two Jewish immigrant factory owners debating workplace morality. Max Markowitz wants to fire his cutter Tony for flirting with Annie, a female finisher, claiming Tony is married and thus shouldn't be "floiting" (flirting). Henry Shapiro, the bookkeeper, questions whether a married man has no right to casual conversation, sarcastically defending Tony's behavior. The satire targets early 20th-century attitudes about gender and marriage: Markowitz's possessive concern about a female worker's interactions, assumptions about married men's conduct, and the comic tension between Old World morality and modern workplace realities. The Yiddish-inflected dialogue ("skoits," "boids") marks these as working-class Jewish characters, a common stereotype in Judge magazine. The subsidiary "Cause and Effect" cartoon makes a crude joke about sexual responsibility.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
ANOTHER SUBWAY PANIC MARKOWITZ AND HENRY—They Discuss Married Flirts and Women's Rights ST HAT TONY! That good-for-noth- ing!” burst out Max Marko- witz, the skirt manufacturer, entering his office after silently closing the factory door behind him. “I tell you, Henry, if it wasn’t so busy by skoits and so scarce by cutters, I wouldn’t wait a minute and tell him to take his hat and coat and good-bye.” “Sha! Sha!” whispered Henry Sha- piro, the bookkeeper, trying to soothe his boss and brother-in-law. “If you keep on hollering like this, not only will Tony Martinelli hear you, but——” “What! Should I shut up in’ my own place?” continued Markowitz in a Not for you and not for that— sha!” again remonstrated t’s a shame for the shop! They can hear every woid you say! Keep quiet for a minute. You holler By LOU RAB about your cutter Tony like he was cut- ting prices and not skoits. I can’t make you out. Last week, you said he was a cutter, a gold; and that if he asked you for a boost, you would have to give it to him: and now you want to boost him out altogether! For what? For when? Did he have a fight with Meyer the foreman?” “No,” said Markowitz is Annie. He’s making eyes at her and she looks like she likes it. All the time they’re talking together like a couple of boids. I wouldn’t give such a care if he was a single man, but——” “And what if he is a married man?” queried Henry, philosophically. ‘‘Ain’t a married man got a right to talk witha in a more subdued tone. “T don’t want to fire him “For floiting!” gasped “Why, when he came to woik here a cou- ple months ago, he said he was just: married and now “Yes, now!” gesticu- ed Markowitz. “I catched him three times already, hanging around— ing time, he’s a week- woiker—one of them new finishers we took in last Monday. The best one of them all. I think her name CAUSE AND EFFECT House cat—Well, little boy, are you what the stork brought ? Cupid—Quite the contrary. I brought the stork. comicbooks.com