Judge — April 16, 1921 — page 21: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page satirizes the "Ziegfeld Follies," the famous Broadway revue known for elaborate staging and scantily-clad chorus girls. The headline mocks New York's T.B. Martin (a theater figure) as intellectually "fagged" (exhausted), suggesting the Follies replace serious culture with frivolous entertainment—here replacing the cocktail hour rather than a proper show. The three costume portraits below ridicule the Follies' performers and pretensions. The captions identify them as "Ziegfeld out-fit" dancers in absurdly ornate historical costumes (14th-century riding habit, elaborate tea gown). The satire suggests these showgirls are merely costumed spectacles, not serious performers, and that the Follies represent mindless, garish entertainment for the leisure class—a commentary on Jazz Age excess and the perceived decline of theatrical sophistication.