Judge, 1917-08-25 · page 21 of 28
Judge — August 25, 1917 — page 21: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is primarily a **Vanity Fair magazine advertisement**, not political satire. The illustration depicts an elegant woman ("the Night Operator") answering a telephone—a reference to telephone switchboard operators, a common female occupation of the era. The advertisement uses **World War I messaging** to sell subscriptions: phrases like "battle of life," "barrage fire," "bombs of boredom," and "poison gas of ennui" employ military vocabulary familiar to 1917 readers (America entered WWI in April 1917). The copy promises Vanity Fair will keep readers mentally sharp during wartime and prevent intellectual dullness. The satirical angle mocks "Busy Bertha" (a woman trying to be sophisticated and engaged) and warns against becoming "a small bore"—suggesting Vanity Fair readers would be culturally current and socially valuable. The "$1 Green Dollar" offer is a sales pitch using patriotic language. The joke: only stylish magazine readers would avoid being tedious during America's war year.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
JUDGE August 25, 1917 HELLO! Are You There? If you long—in the battle of life—to become a Busy Bertha, and to stop being a small bore, fall in be- hind our special war time offer —an entire winter of Vanity Fair, for One Green Dollar. Read the coupon. This is the Night Operator at VANITY FAIR The most cheerful and stimulating of all the new magazines—a winter of which will keep you in touch with the social, literary, dramatic and ar- tistic skirmishes in American life and insure you against every form of dullness, boredom and intellectual old age. Every Issue Contains HIS isa brisk and burn- ing year—in drama, art, literature, humor, fashion and sport, as well as in poli- . tics and war—and you can’t expect to keep up with a double-quick winter unless you read a double - quick magazine—a magazine that can be read without anes- thetics. Get the Cheero Spirit—for $1 One little Green Dollar Will Bring You the Next Five Issues of Vanity Fair—and even six, if you mail coupon in the right-hand corner in double-quick time. nx s. Tt in 's_ thunderclouds. Fair is the only really cheerful and enlivening magazine in Americ heti invariably looks on the sunny side of the sil It prints humor—lots and lots of it ¢ unconventional artists and writers. i and all the enlivening and highly vitalized sides of modern life bravely ON’T expose yourself to the bombs of boredom! don’t be stifled by the poison gas of ennui! keep behind the barrage fire of Vanity Fair, the busiest of all the rapid-fire magazine guns, the one that invariably looks on the sunny side of the silver lining of even the blackest of Life’s thunderclouds. It can be read ining of even the by the best of It views the stage, the arts, the THE STAGE: Entertaining views, reviews, and portraits of the players. THE ARTS : Illustrated criti- cisms of the newest and most discussed pictures, and sculp- ture, architecture and books HUMOR: The most amusing work of our younger humorous writers and artists. ASSORTED NUTS: Strik- ing and unusual portraits of the rted nuts, writers, dancers, wics, beaux, and celebrities of New York. SPORTS: An up-to-date bi- sexual panorama of golf, tennis, racing. polo and other sports. ESSAYS AND REVIEWS: By unconventional and stimu- lating essayists, critics, and authors. New dances and dances, indoor FASHIONS: The last word from our busy Paris office; | clothes of all discriminating men and women. THE OPERA AND MUSIC: Stories and portraits of singers, composers, conductors, DOGS AND MOTORS: Pho- tographs of the best-bred dogs, and the best-built motors. SHOPPING: An index to the best shops and just what they sell. ‘ee AO SiG Cb SSS Ste “Ps right! Salute the coupon! Te: inter—keep you in step wil