Judge, 1923-12-01 · page 19 of 36
Judge — December 1, 1923 — page 19: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes the popular "Daily Dozen" fitness routine (a 1920s exercise craze). Rather than legitimate calisthenics, it presents absurd "exercises" for kissing and romantic physical contact between couples. The humor targets the era's obsession with systematizing everything—even romance and intimacy—into numbered, instructional routines. References to "Spanish shawls," "asbestos divans," and warnings about "black eyes" mock the exercise format's clinical tone while describing increasingly risky or compromising situations. The satirical point: modern life has become so regimented and mechanized that even spontaneous romantic gestures are reduced to formulaic steps. The cartoonist ridicules both the original fitness craze's mechanical approach to health *and* the superficiality of 1920s courtship rituals among the fashionable set depicted here.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
. 34The motion can be ubjeq is ticklish. This one dam'q Apple Buss. Exercise No. 5—The best ac results are obtained here Exercise No. 4—Place the o 78 with the aid of one of those hands on the hips, only on 2. new-fangled Spanish shawls. different hips, before the lips are brought together. ’s. Daily Dozen drove the kiss . Slow music, 2ase! Exercise No. 7—It is ad- visable to practice this one on an asbestos divan. \ Exercise No. 10—Care must be taken with this exercise, as it has a tend- ency to raise the blood pressure until the ears catch fire, iy \ Exercise No. 11—The reaction is upon the spine. The difficulty with this is that it might result in a black eye if not careful. is t¥elfth and last one ought to e has followed the other eleven hat the flesh is more than weak.