Judge, 1923-11-17 · page 20 of 44
Judge — November 17, 1923 — page 20: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The main cartoon (top) shows a gas station attendant greeting a customer, illustrating a commonplace social interaction of the automobile age. The humor relies on recognizing "Kelly from Springfield" as an unremarkable person—the joke is the attendant's casual familiarity despite likely never meeting this customer. "The Advertiser's Rosary" is satire mocking aggressive advertising saturation. The poem parodies Catholic prayer (a "rosary") while complaining that billboards now obscure natural landscapes everywhere. It then satirizes how advertising has infiltrated entertainment—imagining product placements embedded within theater dialogue itself (mentioning Domino, Cadillac, Kodak, etc.). The bottom Cadillac advertisement contains period-typical flirtation: a woman coyly asks if one-handed driving is dangerous; the man responds brutally that yes, "more than one fellow has run into a church doing it"—dark humor about automobile accidents, then a novel concern. The page is primarily declassified advertising and satirical commentary on consumer culture and advertising's invasiveness.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Declassified Advertising ——————— AGENTS AND SALESMEN BIG MONEY DURING YOUR SPARE Become Agent for the Ste . children, dogs or chick ‘our neighbors will need one! Steel Wire Fence Co., Coshocton, O. Méciants—-S0 you're Kelly from Springfield? know the Larkins up there? The Advertiser’s Rosary ne hours I look at thee, billboards! Are as a string of pearls to me, I count them over every one apart, Use Socony! Use Socony! Each board obstructs a sylvan nook, They stretch for miles in rows and rows. Some ad I see where’er I chance to look, Ask Dad—he I:nows! Ask Dad—he inows! O memories of landscapes green! barren gain and bitter loss! I miss each leaf and strive alas to see Some country! Some country! PR rad They advertise in the theater programs —why not in the play itself? “One Domino or two: “UnYale that door! “A Royal Tailored gentleman to sce you, ma’m. Pack my Likly at once, Marie!” “Pardon my Fownes “The Bicycle cards are in my blood to-night, gal!” “Fly with me, dearest, my Cadillac is outside!” “Won't you sit down—in this Siko chair?” “You may go, Jenkins—and Kodak as you go CADILLAC car used. e without im. Big OLD COINS HAVE YOU ANY OLD COINS OR BIL! hem to us—they may be worth lots of mon i sold are sometimes ve Jippim Coin Co., Erie, Pa, BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES BIG PROFITS y lessons get a “From School, OFFICIAL She (coyly)—Is it dangerous to drive with one hand? He (brutally)—You bet! More than one fellow has run.into a church doing it!