Judge, 1921-04-16 · page 7 of 32
Judge — April 16, 1921 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Judge Magazine Page The page contains three separate satirical pieces: **"To Helen of the Beauty Parlors"** parodies Edgar Allan Poe's romantic poem "To Helen," contrasting Poe's idealized beauty with modern 1920s women who rely on cosmetic surgery and artificial enhancement rather than natural beauty. **"Confirmation"** mocks Mrs. Percy V. Pennybacker through a racist anecdote featuring offensive dialect. The "joke" hinges on a Black servant ("Uncle Rastus") supposedly asking Mrs. Pennybacker whether she or her husband is smarter—implying vanity undermines her modesty when she chooses herself. This reflects early 20th-century racist humor common in mainstream publications. **"Emergency"** and **"Perhaps It Will Be So"** are brief comic vignettes: one about feeding solid food to an infant (unclear context), the other mocking novelists' clichéd writing ("the winds blue"). The illustration depicts an elegant social scene, likely related to the beauty parlor satire. Overall, the page reflects period attitudes toward women's vanity, beauty standards, and deeply offensive racial stereotypes considered acceptable in 1920s satirical magazines.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Fosrem Lixcous + ALC. Both—Axpv THAT MISERABLE Mavase ELotse ProMIseD SHE WOULDN'T DUPLICATE IT To Helen of the Beauty Parlors Confirmation By Ettas Linaunuan MBS. PERCY V. PENNYBACKER, who with numerous “ ELEN, thy beauty is tome...” clubwe 1 was on her way to the St. Paul biennial, sug- Thus Poe began—you know the text— gested to the group that each relate the worst “knock” A blurb about a perfumed sea And barks of yore, I think, came next; Then followed stuff respecting same To prove she was a perfect dame. ever received, and confessed this “Uncle Rastus came to me one day and said: * Mrs. Penny backer, all de niggers bin discussin’ which am de smartes’, you or Mr. Pennybacker, so I says to them I'd up and ask you.” “Hoping to appear modest, 1 replied: “Why, Rastus, Mr. Pennybacker is the smartest, of course.” “Whereupon Rastus gave a joyous laugh. ‘Dat's jes what I bin tellin’ dem niggers Not thus, my Helen, would I sing The charms that, more or less. mean you; ant figures would I sl To give your looks the honor duc; A stranger thing [ll do, forsooth I'll sing of you in terms of truth. Emergency Mrs. Black—What, your baby only six months old and you're already feeding it solid food? Mrs. White—Well, you see, dear, John simply had to have This duty must and shall be done: the bottles to put up his last batch of home brew Your style is jazz. not minuet; Your mode is nineteen twenty-one, Not eighteen-something-I-forget. Helen, your beauty is to me Cosmetic art and surgery. Perhaps It Will Be So Keeping up-to-date with the novelists: “It was Sunday morning and the winds blue— comicbooks.com