Judge, 1922-09-02 · page 16 of 36
Judge — September 2, 1922 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a "beauty contest" feature from Judge magazine where readers vote on illustrated female contestants. Each woman is identified by name and location, presented through portrait sketches and full-body fashion illustrations typical of 1920s periodicals. The humor relies on deliberate incongruity: the contestants have absurd, obviously fake names—"Daisy Fairweather," "Blanche White," "Wilhelmina Henpecker," "Minna Sota" (Minnesota), "Mrs. J. Meat Cleaver"—satirizing the superficiality of beauty pageants and advertising culture. The exaggerated hairstyles and fashion poses mock contemporary beauty standards and commercialism. The winner receives a ribbon badge reading "For Conspicuous Bravery," inverting typical contest language to suggest that participating in a beauty contest requires courage—a satirical jab at the commodification of women's appearance. This reflects Judge magazine's satirical tradition of mocking American consumer culture and vanity through humor.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
JUDGE’S Beauty Contest T IS the happy privilege of JunGE to pin upon the bodice of one of these fair American Beauti the badge of physical perfection. The badge is a strip of white ribbon upon the obverse side of which, crocheted in ciel, will appear the simple words: “For Con- 5 vs 1 on the reverse: of the winne upon page 66 of next week’ ill be printed issue. Marcelle Barber, Wave Crest, Mass. Daisy Fair- weather, Gushing, Pa. || Mrs. J. Meat Cleaver, Blanche White, Great Neck, Mo. Pickaninny Terrace, La. Wilhemina Henpecker, Vera Broadback, South Bend, Ga. Broad River, Vt. sok coe a eS Washinton aa Tubbs, Jr.. Milk City, Ma. Minna Sota, Dolores McGuire, Cherry Valley, Fla. Allina Row, Ky.