Judge, 1919-10-11 · page 8 of 36
Judge — October 11, 1919 — page 8: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis for Modern Readers This 1920s *Judge* article satirizes the replacement of traditional family photo albums with home movie cameras—a new technology gaining popularity among wealthy families. The satire targets upper-class pretension: wealthy socialites like "Mrs. William Wall Street" (a generic name mocking Wall Street types) are recording trivial domestic moments on film—a Maltese dog's growth, a baby's tooth emerging—as though these mundane events deserve cinematic documentation. The humor lies in the absurdity of treating ordinary family life as worthy of elaborate film production. The closing joke is political. The author imagines what *historical* films would show: "Pa Burleson Paddling Little Albert Sidney" and "Little Josephus Being Sent to Bed"—likely references to Secretary of War Newton Baker's children, mocking how self-important wealthy families immortalize even discipline moments. The cartoon below (captioned "He Doesn't Even Hesitate") shows a father casually filming while his child sits in a baby carriage and a woman operates beauty preparations—illustrating the article's point that fathers are enthusiastically adopting film despite being incompetent operators ("sometimes explodes").
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Drawn by P. LC Oarsman—I think U'il turn back now. oser Nhs The Family Album’s Successor By Kexnetn Axprews HE _ latest time-honored institution to be super- seded in our rapidly advancing civilization is the old family album. It used to be when sister got a new beau she would, after a little preliminary spar- | ring, set him down on the sofa, dust off the album and i] show him a picture of herself in long curls, a later one a in her graduation dress, gradually working into the ae Drown by Pact Renee series which started with Cousin Willie and Aunt Sue in their wedding finery. The album, however, is out of date. It is now the thing to have a small movie outfit in the home for the purpose of recording the family’s progress. This can be purchased at a relatively small cost, and the father can, with a little patience, be trained to use it. It is better to have father operate the machine because it some- times explodes. The screen on which the pictures are shown is not expensive, and can easily be stretched in the library or drawing room; and as a method of putting a little snap in a houseful of guests on such occasions as family reunions, before weddings and after funerals, Home Movies are being widely adopted by our front families. uburban Luxury Magazine tells us that “Mrs. William Wall Street, Secretary of the National Maltese Dog Club, has a moving picture record of her twenty- five dogs out at Plainfield, N. J."’ The value of this record is evident, since only a few of the more highly cultivated know that there is such a thing as a Maltese Dog, to say nothing of a National Maltese Dog Club. The journey to Plainfield, New Jersey, is «well worth undergoing to see Mrs. Street’s instructive movie of little William W. Street II, said to be the most beautiful Maltese Dog in America, grow from a tiny pup to his full stature in about a hundred feet of film. Mrs. Beaucoup Pyle of Great Neck has a genuine film classic which she has called “ Benny Cuts his First Tooth.” This is a close-up of Benny’s little gums and we see the tooth from the time it appears as a small spot of white until it towers before us like an iceberg. “Dad Collapsing at the Sight of the Milliner’s Bill” is the title of the picture which has provided amusement for the friends of Miss Lotta Rox among the younger set of Rye. We welcome this innovation. It may mean much in the future. Imagine, for instance, what joy we of the present generation would take in witnessing a pic- ture called, “Pa Burleson Paddling Little Albert Sidney for Meddling” or “Little Josephus Being Sent to Bed Without Supper for Sassing his Elders.” He Doesn't Even Hesrrate 8 icomicbooks-com