Judge, 1918-07-13 · page 2 of 36
Judge — July 13, 1918 — page 2: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page from *Judge* magazine features a cartoon and article about humor preferences. The cartoon shows two people exchanging reading material—one asking for "six four-line jokes" while the other offers a "123 line article," illustrating different tastes in humor length. The accompanying article argues that humor comes in various lengths, and that neither long nor short humor is objectively superior. It references "Judge" (the magazine itself, personified) conducting pseudo-scientific research with "white laboratories" to determine optimal humor length for different ages and circumstances. The page includes a subscription offer at bottom left. The satire gently mocks both rigid preferences for specific humor formats and the magazine's self-promotional claims about having scientifically determined the "correct" humor mixture. It's primarily humorous commentary on reader preferences rather than political satire.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Hand fas duage, Julia. T want to Tend six four-line jokes. | just read this 123 line aatiele T was just in the mood for something thal size . Do you like your humor long or short? There are just as many lengths of humor as there are kinds of humor. ridiculous for you to say you like long humor better than short humor, or short better than long. A great psychologist has said, “Sometimes people like their humor short and sometimes long.” It is absolutely Judge has, of course, gene into this matter very deeply. has found that, while there is no rule as to the pro- portion of long humor a man may consume to good advan- tage at a given hour of the day, or under given cir- cumstances of stress, or relaxation, it is en- Judge All Right, JUDGE: 225 Filth Ave. New York City foreign 1.30) Naw —_ tirely possible to strike a law of aver- ages. Judge has examined, in large white laboratories erected especially for this purpose, thousands of people, thin and fat, oozy optimists and pur- ple pessimists, bright and half-bright, to determine how much long humor and short humor is good for an aver- age normal subject over a weck’s time. Judge is made up in this correct proportion of long, short and medium length humor every week. Don’t you feel in your own soul that Judge has about the right mixture? Don’t judge hastily. Send a dollar for thirteen issues and give the subject the consideration it deserves. the nation’s perpetual smileage book comicbooks.com