Judge, 1919-02-01 · page 2 of 32
Judge — February 1, 1919 — page 2: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis This page is primarily an **advertisement for Judge magazine itself**, disguised as editorial content. The cartoon shows a man who suffered from bronchitis for years until a friend recommended subscribing to Judge. The "moral" claims that Judge's humor provides preventive and curative health benefits. The satire is **self-referential**: Judge humorously suggests its own magazine is medicinal. The exaggerated testimonial—a man literally confined to bed until reading Judge—mocks both patent medicine advertising of the era and magazines' inflated claims about their value. The subscription coupon below reinforces this is primarily a **marketing pitch**. For modern readers, this reflects early 20th-century advertising's loose relationship with health claims and how publications used humor to promote themselves.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
° Po 60000 D You may f man Aas ee fas veh dude Ce, not believe this, but the moral is clear, just the same The man in the above photograph. suffered for weeks—yes, months—in fact, years—from bronchitis. He had taken so much dark-brown medicine that his mouth will taste like the inside of an old ink bottle the rest of his life. He had spent so much time in bed that he had stared blisters on the ceiling of his bedroom. Finally, a friend recommended Judge. He subscribed immediately. You see the result. He has authorized us to publish this picture; also to publish his full name and address. How- ever, we withhold the lat- d me a bill (Canadian $1.25 ter because there is a stenographer fa- mine in the little city of X where the man resides and we do not wish to bury him under a mountain of cor- respondence. You should know about some of the other cures that Judge has effected. (Bronchitis is a mere bagatelle to Judge.) There is the case of the man in Hammond, Ind., whose face was locked for ten years. He had not taken over a half dozen is- sues of Judge before he loosened up and laughed heartily. Are you strong and well? Stay so. Judge is a preventive as well as a cure. Become a regular subscriber while you have your health. JUDGE The Happy Medium 225 Fifth Avenue, New York City comicbooks.com —s os a _ %