Judge, 1923-01-20 · page 27 of 36
Judge — January 20, 1923 — page 27: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is **not a political cartoon**, but rather a **full-page advertisement** for the U.S. School of Music, appearing in Judge magazine. The illustrations show musicians of various eras playing different instruments (saxophone, violin, trumpet, banjo, piano). The ad makes an appeal to ordinary people who believe they lack musical talent: it promises that anyone can learn to play professionally in a "remarkably short time" without years of tedious lessons from traditional instructors. The pitch emphasizes personal enrichment ("adds to your personal charm," "brings you success") and convenience ("spare moments at home"). A coupon offers a free aptitude test and instructional book. **The satirical context**: Judge likely ran this as an example of dubious mail-order promises common in early 20th-century magazines—the kind of "learn X in weeks!" advertisements that were often exaggerated. The earnest copy promising rapid mastery would have been recognizable to readers as typical advertising hyperbole of the era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
in ell ed ou 'm ng ou Musical Instrument New Method Makes It Easy |e information about the joy of Hundreds of people have musical talent and ability and don’t know it. Hundreds of people are depriving them- selves of the pleasure that only music can bring, be- music, how to learn both theory and prac- tice, how music will open the door to the finer things in life, how it adds to your personal charm, cause they don’t know how For Beginners or how it enables you to make to play, and they don’t want Advanced Pupils to spend years in learning. Piso Taking lessons from a regu- | oun lar music instructor me Dramscand long, tedious hours of pra tic and it takes months and) months and months, often years, before you can Saxophone . aa Cello lly play with eredit— | Sle, you can entertain i more friends, and how it can bring you success. It also tells you how automatic finger con- Composition a v Gompesiion | trol can be gained, how to Ubulele choose an instrument, how to Harp get a Teachers’ Certificate and Cornet Piccolo many other interesting facts. Trombone Banjo Coupon Brings It Tenor Banjo iian Steel Guitar There is no cost, no obliga- and Speech Culture , no obliga. your family and friends. No Automatic Fenger Control tion to learn all about this wonder this method is so dis- couraging—no wonder so many men and women, once they have com- menced to take music lessons, discontinue so afterwards. And who can blame them? Life is too short to devote so much time to practicing uninteresting exercises and scales. At last a new method has been evolved that makes it remarkably easy for you to play your favorite musical instrument —that enables you to master it within an amazingly short time. Without any mu- sical education or special training you ean n to play any kind of music, by NOTE. Even though you don’t know the first thing about music at the start, you can become a finished musician within a remarkably short time. There are no numbers to follow or “trick methods” to apply. It is a rapid, efficient, scientific method that permits you to use the same notes as Kreisler, Paderewski, Galli-Curci, ete., ete. Free Test of Your Musical Ability We will send you FREE a wonderful book which explains how to test your own wonderful new, easy, quick method of mastering your favorite musical instrument. The book is FREE—send for it TO-DAY, before the edition is exhausted. Simply fill out the coupon and mail it to us, or, if you pre- fer, send us a letter or a postal card. But be sure to send AT ONCE. U.S. SCHOOL OF MUSIC, 21 Brunswick Bldg., New York. Please write name and address plainly so that there will be no difficulty in booklet reaching you. The Largest School of Music in the World U. S. SCHOOL OF MUSIC 21 Brunswick Bldg., New York Please send me absolutely FREE and with- tion the wonderful book which shows st_my own natural musical ability and loses the wonderful new way to become expert musician in my spare moments at me. I name below the instrument I am par- ticularly interested in Name Address City musical ability. It is also filled with in- | Name of Instrument