Judge — February 18, 1922 — page 19: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This is a single illustration by an artist named Little (signed lower left), depicting the backstage area of the Hippodrome theater in New York. The cartoon shows the chaotic, crowded scene behind the scenes—with performers, stagehands, and various figures amid theatrical equipment and props. The joke suggests that seeing the performance from this hidden backstage perspective was so impressive (or perhaps so revealing of the theater's operational chaos) that Little humorously suggested the management literally "turn the theater inside out"—reversing the audience's perspective to view from backstage instead. The satire mocks either the theater's impressive machinery or its behind-the-scenes disorder.