Judge, 1919-02-08 · page 23 of 32
Judge — February 8, 1919 — page 23: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page collects humor sketches from a theatrical production called "The Canary," illustrated by John Held Jr. The jokes target early 20th-century social concerns: **Top sketch**: Satires pre-breakfast exercise fads—a fitness trend among the wealthy, mocked as pointless if no meal follows. **Middle sketch**: A widow jokes about her magician husband (Floto), implying she "escaped" marriage through trickery, using his own escape-artist methods against him. **Lower sketches**: Timothy and the shop owner misunderstanding involves selling statuary to "Mrs. Beasley," with a crude joke about her exhaustion after a night out. **Bottom caption**: References the "sextette of Johnniettes" (chorus girls), joking that despite chorus girls supposedly becoming "extinct," those in this show are notably fit—satirizing both theatrical labor and Darwinian-era "survival of the fittest" language applied to showgirls. The humor relies on theatrical references, physical comedy misunderstandings, and period-appropriate social satire about exercise fads and stage entertainment.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Bist Dits rom “The * Canary, WShedihed b 2 — Helddn ee “What's the use of exercising two hours before break- fast when they don’t give you any breakfast?” “Lam the widow of Floto, he magician.” “Well, do you know how he used to get out of that chair?” “Yes, one night I tied him in it my self.’ “T bet that was the night you married him.” Timotiy (Joseph Caw- thorn): Let me show you our new line of old statuary. How do you like this? Lavy: What is the name of it? Suop Owner (whispering to Timothy): Sst! ‘That’s sold to Mrs. Beasley. Timotuy (misunderstand- ing): This is Mrs. Beasley— after a hard night. Sextette of rT efacicete making it easy to understand why the chorus man is becoming extinct. When it comes to the survival of the fittest, they are remarkably fit. comicbooks.com