Judge — October 15, 1921 — page 3: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Judge Magazine, October 15, 1921 This cartoon satirizes social attitudes toward women's marriages in 1920s New York high society. The scene depicts a cocktail party where a woman in an elegant flowing dress is the center of attention among wealthy men in formal attire. The caption—"Oh, she's absolutely the rage in New York! She married a revenue officer!"—conveys the joke: marrying a government revenue officer (a federal tax collector, likely associated with Prohibition enforcement) is considered surprisingly fashionable among the wealthy elite. The satire mocks the social pretension of the wealthy, who would celebrate this unconventional match as trendy rather than pragmatic. It reflects 1920s anxieties about Prohibition and federal authority's growing intrusiveness into American life.