Judge, 1919-08-16 · page 10 of 36
Judge — August 16, 1919 — page 10: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Explanation for Modern Readers This page contains two satirical pieces from Judge magazine: **"Unpublished Songs"** (main story): Harry Mulberry, a grocery clerk, responds to an ad from C.C. Pickem Music Company promising to publish amateur songs. The company praises his three song lyrics and offers to publish them—for fifty dollars each. The satire targets predatory music publishing schemes that exploited hopeful amateurs by charging upfront fees while promising success. Mulberry, who has never possessed fifty dollars at once, is devastated. The joke: these "song mills" had no intention of making his work profitable; they profited from submission fees, not royalties. **"An Able Infant"** (lower right): A brief anecdote where Gap Johnson describes his baby's surprising strength and climbing ability, attributing it to evolutionary tree-climbing ancestry. The satire gently mocks pseudo-scientific explanations popular in the era, presenting folk observation dressed up as scientific reasoning. Both pieces ridicule common American hucksterism and pseudo-intellectualism of the period.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Le 0 by A. Macwernnr Proprictor—Yes, | wuz al Soldier (tasting Surprisin’ you led Unpublished Songs By Orne F Conner N reading the pages of a popular ine Harry Mulberry, clerk in Casey's grocery the following ad store, noticed Warite tHe Worps ror , Sonc. We write music, guarantee publisher's acceptance. Sub- mit poems on patriotism, love or any subje: C.C. Pickem, Music Co., Broadway, New York Harry Mulberry read this ad. over several times. To him it was very interesting. He had written several song poems, and here, at last, was a publisher who would examine the work of an amateur and, if worthy, would publish it. Harry Mulberry knew very little about the song game, but that night before he closed his eyes in sleep he thought a long time about that little ad., and he finally decided to get busy. In a few days Harry Mulberry selected three of his best song lyrics—“If You Want to Save Yourself From Trouble, Love Only One Girl at a Time,” “I Never Felt This Way Before “1 I Met You,” and “Some Skaters Will Find It Hard Skating After July First,” and mailed them to the C. C. Pickem Music Company ‘The next few days were the Ic Mulberry had ever known, but on a § a letter from the C. C at the grocery store. It was a wonderful letter—of its kind; full of praise for Harry Mulberry’s song lyrics. His stuff was so good they wanted the “full rights” to the three song lyrics. Their song composer had examined the song poems and found them O. K. “With our help your songs will be big hits. For fifty dollars for each song t days that Harry turday morning Pickem Music Company arrived we will publish your songs on a royalty basis.” For fifty dollars—these three words brought Marry Mulberry back to earth. He had been walking on pink air Fifty dollars? Harry Mulberry thought of his three song lyrics, and he was very sad. The C. C. Pickem Music Co. will feel very sad, too. Harry Mulberry in his whole life never possessed fifty dollars all at one time, and the day that letter arrived he didn’t have fifty cents An Able Infant The unexpected strength often found in the hands and arms of infants is, after all, not surprising,” id the Presiding — Elder. Scientists point to this and to the crisscross lines on the soles of a baby"s feet as evidences of the tree-climbing ability of our ancestors.” Eh-yah! I've noticed something of the kind admitted Gap Johnson, of Rumpus Ridge, Ark. “Take my baby, Rowdy, frinstance, and hook him by the hands onto a low limb of a small tree, and he'll hang and swing and cuss for half an hour at a time, as nimble as a dad-blamed parrot.”” myseli,”” W. Keven ou all ask why fo" berries. Woman, price when dars a b comicbooks.com