Judge, 1919-11-01 · page 25 of 38
Judge — November 1, 1919 — page 25: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This Judge magazine page satirizes theatrical depictions of romance and morality, circa 1910s-1920s. The three theatrical scenes mock how stage plays (referenced as "Scandal," "An Exchange of Wives," and "The Gold Diggers") portray women's relationships with men in increasingly scandalous ways: 1. **"Scandal"**: A woman secretly marries one man while flirting with another—treated as dramatic intrigue. 2. **"Exchange of Wives"**: Implies adultery disguised as sophisticated comedy. 3. **"The Gold Diggers"**: A rural woman seduced by city life and cinema. Jerry's monologue reveals the mechanism of moral corruption: a movie showing a woman gaining luxury through romantic manipulation inspires real imitation. The satire's point: theater and film present unethical behavior as glamorous and consequence-free, misleading naive audiences (especially women and youth) into adopting these values. The joke targets both theatrical excess and cinema's corruptive influence on public morality—a common Progressive-era concern about mass media.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
From” Scaxpar” The Way of a Woman with a Man— on the s\ Beateix (to her family)—I've \ been secretly married to | Pelham. (To him) — For Heaven's sake,he a sport! Futurist matrimony from “An Exciance or Wives.” Mr. A, and Mrs. B. billing and cooing for the bencht Sorry to inter- rupt, but where's your husband? We must have a fourth at bridge. n “Tite Gotn Diocers” Jerry—i'm Carmen—you're Don Jose—unless you want to be the bull! the ficlds—among the cows and the pigs—and my relatives—and I loved them all—even the relatives! I didn’t know any better—I was so young—and so innocent! And then—then came the call of the city! {From “Tuk Goro Diccers” Looking back now, I can see it was a movie that Jexry—But I've just got to tell you the story of my life Where did started it all! It was called “Geraldine’s First Mis- 1 begin? Oh, yes—when L was born. Well, that’s over. You don't take”—and oh, it made it all seem so easy. She just blame me for that, Uncle Steve? let a man hold her hand—and then the very next Srepuen—Why no, no, Certainly not! That's liable to happen to thing—she had a limousine! Of course, I realize anyone. now that they left out part of the movie—but T was Jexry—I was so young when I grew up there in Chillicothe—among so young, Uncle Steve—I didn’t know, I didn’t know 25,