Judge — November 3, 1923 — page 8: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Cartoon Analysis This is a single-panel cartoon from *Judge* magazine mocking a man pushing a baby carriage. Two well-dressed men encounter each other on the street; one teases the other ("Harry") about his "paternity coat"—apparently a distinctive garment associated with new fathers. The satire targets the social awkwardness and masculinity anxieties surrounding fatherhood in the era when this was published. The joke suggests that becoming a father makes a man visibly recognizable by his clothing and behavior (pushing a baby carriage), turning him into an object of gentle ridicule among bachelor friends. The term "paternity coat" implies fatherhood has become a defining public identity, something his friends can spot from blocks away—a humorous commentary on how dramatically a man's social status and appearance changes once he becomes a father.