Judge, 1918-02-23 · page 19 of 36
Judge — February 23, 1918 — page 19: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page from *Judge* magazine collects brief humorous anecdotes about gender relations and social encounters, typical of early-20th-century American satire. The cartoons mock predictable relationship dynamics: wives who won't stop talking, women manipulating husbands for jewelry, and men saying the wrong thing socially. One extended anecdote features Swedish immigrants ("Gus Peterson," "Ole Swanson") with exaggerated dialect humor, depicting a reunion where Gus awkwardly forgets an old acquaintance. The Bruce Bairnsfather cartoon shows a soldier in a theatrical costume ("Puss-in-Boots") caught in a WWI trench attack—satirizing the chaos of war interrupting entertainment. Other jokes target workplace dynamics, flirtation rituals, and women's vanity (a manicurist's response to grooming requests, a woman complimented on her recognizable hat rather than her appearance). The humor reflects period stereotypes about women's materialism, chattiness, and appearance-consciousness, alongside mockery of working-class immigrant speech patterns. The satire assumes a male perspective throughout.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
| WOMAN Not Yet Proven—“When your wife starts to talk does she know how to stop?” “Tam unable to say. I have been mar- ried only nine years.” —Ginger. Outwitted—“I wouldn’t like to buy my dear litle wifey a pearl necklace. Pearls mean tears, you know.” “Do they? Then I'll cry till I get it.” —Brooklyn Citizen. Frightful—Gus Peterson ha bane grate faller for putting his feet in his mouth avery tam ha open it and ha ain’t -no acrobat vaudevil show either, but ha yust seam tu always say the wrong ting at the right time. Vonce avery year dis Gus ha vent tu Svedish re-union vere all the Svede fallers meat and talking over old times and ha shake hands with avery vone yust the same lak ha bane run for offis. Ven ha go tu dis re-union last veek Gus ha meat Ole Swanson and ha ain’t sea Ole befour in twenty year, so ha ain’t no hem right avay. Ole ha say: “Vell, by yimminy, Gus Peterson, Ay ain’t sea you sence ve vas kids. Don’t yono me? Ay bane Ole Swanson. Ain’t yu remember yu stood opp vit me ven Ay vas marry? Yee viz, but Ay sure did git awful fright that day.” Gus scratch his head for minute and than ha grin and say: “Sure, Ay remember yu now. Yes yu got awful fright that day alright. Vot does she look lak now?”—IWashington State Weekly. Amounts to Same Thing—“ Do you ever talk to yourself?” “Not intentionally. But frequently I suspect that my husband isn’t listen- ing.” —Kansas City Journal. The Coal Administrator Explains “Il faut avoir un peu de patience. Nous manquons de pelles pour le ramasser.” Just be patient. You sce, we haven't enodgh shovels."—La Baionnette (Paris). Drawn by Cartan BRUCE BAIRNSFATHER It was unfortunate that Old Bill was playing the leading comedian’s part in “Puss-in- Boots,” in the theatre tent back of the trenches, when that attack broke out and left no time for Bill to change completely.— Bystander (London). Slow—“In business life, I see.” S¥¢ “How do you like it, girlie?” “T find it slow. I never hear any of those trade secrets I used to read about.” —Louisville Courier-Journal. The Trimmings—aA peroxide-wigged manicure turned her “ Anna Held” eyes on the patron before her and asked: “Shall 1 trim you close?” He smiled back and said: “Well, you might leave me enough for carfare home.” —Typographic Messenger. Such An Insult—Two women who who had not seen each other for many years met unexpectedly in the street. “How do you do?” exclaimed one, effusively. “Now, this is delightful!” said the other, who was the elder. “You haven’t seen me for eleven years, and yet you knew me at once! I cannot have changed so dreadfully in all that time. It flatters me!” “Oh, I recognized your said the first.—Pittsburgh Telegraph. bonnet,” Chronide-