Judge — September 20, 1919 — page 29: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page satirizes *Mack Sennett's* famous silent film comedies by staging humorous "record beauties" — posed tableaux of various celebrities performing absurd physical comedy outdoors. The captions reference real figures like Gitz Rice, Canton Rosenblatt, Charles Hart, Arthur Fields, Barbara Maurel, and Grace Kerns engaging in slapstick scenarios: jeopardizing white flannels, guarding families from strangers, hoping lawnmowers will strike, crowding oceans, gracing sands, fleeing park cops, and lounging indoors. The satire mocks both Sennett's low-brow physical humor and the celebrities willing to participate in undignified antics for publicity. The photos (credited to Underwood & Underwood News and Bain) present these "beauties" not as glamorous but as ridiculous — lying in grass, sprawling on beaches, desperately avoiding lawn maintenance. The joke targets the era's entertainment culture: even respectable performers would debase themselves for the camera's gaze.