Judge, 1917-10-06 · page 12 of 28
Judge — October 6, 1917 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The main cartoon depicts a mounted soldier rejecting an offer of infantry service with "Well—shucks! It's infantry they want anyhow!"—satirizing military recruitment desperation during World War I, when even reluctant or unsuitable soldiers were being conscripted. The "Great Benefit Performance" is a humorous fantasy program attributed to an alien visitor, mocking wartime charitable benefits. It features classical and mythological figures (Pharaoh, Jupiter, Hercules, Noah, Socrates, Plato) performing on the moon to aid "war-torn and starving inhabitants of the earth"—an absurdist critique of how theatrical fundraisers seemed disconnected from actual wartime suffering. The two short joke pieces below address patriotic sacrifice: one jokes that stopping German music won't help the war effort, the other suggests a home-bound complainer belongs in "storming battalions" (aggressive combat units). Both mock civilian attempts at patriotic contribution and domestic discord during the war.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The horse—Oh! Well—shucks! A Great Benefit Performance knows beer from beer has just returned to New York and showed the writer the most extraordinary theatrical programme that has ever been printed. He picked it up just south of the great peak of Mont Blanc. It had evidently been dropped by a super-terrestial airship. Here it is: A MAN who knows his Alps as well as a Hoboken citizen GRAND BE IT of THE for THE WAR-TORN and STARVING INHABITANTS OF THE EARTH To Be Given in the Grand Hippodrome of the Moon at a date to be announced later IMMORTALS These Artists Will Positively Appear: PuActon, in his famous Somersault over the Sun. Jurirer, in his great Lightning-Juggling act Eve and the Serpent in their famous one-act play. ““Tempt Prosetuevs in the great Mob Scene from “Fired out of Heaven.” Paw and his College Girl Chorus. Hercutes, the Cobra Strangler. Apaw, the Original Animal-Tamer. It’s infantry they want anyhow! Momvs will render his star-celebrated song, “It Is to Laugh.” Pror the Charlie Chaplin of Olympus, in “Change.” Bace} in bis monologue, “The 4 A. M. Boys.” Socrates and PLato, the Weberfields of Valhalla. Concluding with an act from the Grand Opera “THE DELUGE” in which Noah Himself will be heard with his Colossal Animal Chorus. Seats at any hotel west of Saturn. —Benjamin De Casseres. No Relief from Suffering First neighbor—My daughter is very patriotic. going to play a more German music. Second neighbor—I'm afraid that won't help any. probably play something else in place of it. She isn’t She will His Proper Place Mrs. \ —What branch of the army do you think your husband is best fitted for? Mrs. Gillis—Judging by the way he rants around home, he would make his mark as a member of one of these “storming battalions.” comicbooks.com