Judge, 1917-09-29 · page 28 of 28
Judge — September 29, 1917 — page 28: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is **not a political cartoon or satire**—it's a **Victor Talking Machine Company advertisement** disguised as an inspirational biographical narrative. The page tells the romanticized origin story of **John McCormack**, a real Irish-American tenor singer who was famous in the early 20th century. The narrative traces his journey from a poor Irish boy who ran away at age nine to follow a traveling fiddler, to becoming an internationally renowned concert artist. The "satire" or humor is gentle: the ad uses sentimental storytelling about humble Irish origins to create emotional appeal for purchasing McCormack's phonograph records. The implicit message is that Victor records connect consumers to authentic talent and authentic experience—you can own a piece of this famous artist's voice. The illustration depicts McCormack's "first audience" of Irish country people by a roadside, contrasting his modest beginnings with his later fame filling grand concert halls. This is fundamentally **advertising masquerading as human interest journalism**—a common early 20th-century marketing technique.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
% John M°Cormack's first audience The Irish lad who ran away to be a minstrel and grew up to be a world-famed artist A boy nine years old stood at_a street corner on a “ fa ay" in Athlone and listened to an old fiddler and ballad singer. The first thrill of romance s c : veins. When the wandering minstrel struck out for the next town, the lad trudged blissfully by his side, with boyish indifference to the home folks beside the river Shannon Two days later the boy’s frantic parents overtook him at Mullingar. He got no ‘ licking”—only a mother’s blessing and the tears of those who heard him sing “ Molly Brannigan,” the first ballad he ever learned. Thus did John McCormack take his first journey on the highroad to Fame. Today the minstrel-boy has grown into a world-famed artist, a singer renowned in every land. His first wayside audience of country folks has swelled to vas’ audiences filling the great audi- toriums in the capitals of the world and to that still mightier host who know and love him through his Victor Records. John McCormack makes records for the Victor exclusively. With the artist’s sure instinct, he knows and appreciates Victor Supremacy. / Hear the McCormack records at the nearest Victor store. Victor Talking Machine Co., Camden, N. J., vu. s. a. Berliner Gramophone Co , Montreal, Canadian Distritators comicbooks.com