Judge, 1917-01-20 · page 20 of 28
Judge — January 20, 1917 — page 20: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is primarily a **Vanity Fair magazine advertisement** (left page) with international humor cartoons (right page). ## The Ad's Satire The Vanity Fair promotion satirizes social aspiration and intellectual vanity. It flatters readers into subscribing by claiming the magazine prevents them from being "stodgy" or "provincial"—social fears of the era's upper-middle class. The pitch targets both women (via fashion/theatre gossip) and men (via wit and sophistication), suggesting that reading Vanity Fair signals cultural refinement and "being in the movement." ## The Foreign Humor Cartoons The right page collects jokes from European publications (London Opinion, Le Rire, Fliegende Blaetter). These depict class-based humor: a woman with soldiers about "advancement through vegetables" (likely WWI-era), and a bookshop clerk recommending a love-letter writer who's enabled four marriages—mocking both romantic incompetence and commercial exploitation. The overall message: sophisticated readers belong to an international cultural circle, making the advertisement itself part of Vanity Fair's pitch about cosmopolitan awareness.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Amusing women read VANITY FAIR because it keeps them au courant of all the things one talks about—the gossip of the theatre and opera—the new movements in arts and letters—the latest in sports and salons—the smartest in dogs and motors—the gayest in dances and fashions—the latest tip on where to dine, to dance, to drop in for cigarettes, coffee and celebrities. Clever men read VANITY FAIR because it knows the world, and loves it, and laughs at it. Because it is too witty to be foolish, and altogether too wise to be wise. Because it isn't afraid to buy the best work of our young writers, artists and dramatists. And because it prints such adorable pictures of Mrs. Vernon Castle. The most successful of the new magazines Take your favorite theatrical magazine; add your favorite humorous peri- odical; stir in The Sketch and The Tatler of London; pour in one or two reviews of modern art; sprinkle with a few indoor dances and outdoor sports; dash with a French flavoring; mix in a hundred or so photographs, portraits, and sketches; add a dozen useful departments; throw in a maga- zine of fashion and one of literature; season with the fripperies and vanities of New York—and you will have VANITY FAIR. If you would be “in the movement ” dance the newest dance a month before it becomes popular; dine in Bohemia before it realizes it is Bohemia and charges admission; know what to see at the theatre, hear at the opera, buy at the bookshop, and on no account miss at the galleries—fill in and send in the coupon for six months of VANITY FAIR, at $1. Just Say to Yourself 1 owe it to my family and friends to go through life with my mind open; to keep my sympathies warm; to remain in constant touch with the newest and liveliest in. fluences in life. I won't be stodgy! I won't be provincial! 1 refuse to become—whether intellectually or socially—a blight at luncheon. I won't kill a dinner party stone dead ten minutes before the entree. Therefore, I will risk a single dollar end subscribe to Vanity Fair. 2. ef, es ‘a. “ Rot SSK sss ee wv ey 25centsacopy $3ayear ee? HO Me % % % % et oe Condé Nast, Publisher BS yt 48 3 ree WMG Frank Crowninshield, < nee Ay Editor ., Pe ACN “ Bett 2%, %, BGO G “Who's the Bird?” “Which? The Ban- tam?”—London Opinion. | The Military Soup-Gardens “Mince d’avancement: me v'ld dans les lqgumes.” “‘A small advance; I’m in the beans!” —Le Rire (Paris). In the Book: * Diesen Liebesbriefsteller kann ich Thn: empfehlen! “Eine Kundin von mir. die d kauft hat, ist jetzt bereits zum viertenmal “T can recommend this writer on love letters very highly. One of my patrons who purchased it has just been married for the fourth time.”"—Fliegende Blaetter (Munich). comicbooks.co L washt prese: of ma wring 1 old aj There fated ceased Bu one, b away owner the qu Es favorit waited m