Judge — September 24, 1921 — page 11: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "The Open Season" This illustration by William Henry Matthews is a visual riddle for Judge magazine readers. A fashionably dressed woman wearing an elaborate gown and floral headdress stands surrounded by three large white fur muffs (hand warmers). The satire plays on the double meaning of "open season"—literally, the hunting season when furs are obtained, and figuratively, a time when something becomes fair game. The joke suggests that winter (when women need furs) is "open season" for courting gentlemen to purchase expensive gifts for women. The text offers an incentive: the first reader correctly identifying which season the picture represents gets introduced to the girl and can buy her the furs—a humorous commentary on courtship customs and male expenditure on female fashion accessories.