Judge — November 16, 1918 — page 1: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis of Judge Magazine Cover, November 16, 1918 This satirical cover titled "The Girl They Left Behind Them" depicts various military personnel (sailors, soldiers, and officers) surrounding a central framed image of five stars—apparently representing absent servicemen or fallen soldiers. The cartoon plays on the popular WWI-era phrase "the girl you left behind," which romanticized female partners waiting for soldiers. Here, the satire suggests irony: while military men are overseas (represented by the empty stars), the women left behind are surrounded by remaining servicemen of various ranks. The joke likely critiques either the shortage of eligible men on the home front during wartime, or satirizes romantic complications created by deployment. The drawing is by John Held Jr., a prominent cartoonist of the era.