Judge — October 27, 1923 — page 10: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "On the Eve of All-Dennisons" by John Held, Jr. This page satirizes Halloween traditions while punning on "Dennisons," likely a popular manufacturer of Halloween decorations and party supplies of that era. Held presents six comic vignettes depicting typical All Hallows' Eve activities with humorous twists: The illustrations show children engaged in recognizable Halloween games—bobbing for apples, burning crepe paper hats—alongside folk traditions like walking backwards downstairs to glimpse one's "true love" over the left shoulder. The final panel's joke subverts expectations by explaining an apparently ghostly figure is actually someone locked out of a broken bathroom door. The humor derives from the contrast between anticipated supernatural thrills and mundane domestic reality, characteristic of Held's satirical approach to American social customs.