Judge, 1924-05-10 · page 9 of 36
Judge — May 10, 1924 — page 9: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Judge Page: "An Interview with Ectoplasm" This satirical piece mocks the spiritualism craze popular in early 20th-century America. The main cartoon shows a translucent ghost-like figure (an "ectoplasm") being interviewed. The joke targets spiritualists' pretensions: this supposedly supernatural being complains about mundane problems—interruptions at seances, poor tambourine skills, difficulty writing on slate boards, and nervousness in the dark. The satire is twofold: First, it ridicules spiritualists for their pseudoscientific claims while pretending seriousness (the "Ectoplasmic Academy of Seance"). Second, it mocks spiritualism's social pretensions—even ghosts have "clubs" and "intellectual groups." The small cartoon below depicts a child's prayer, "Are you there, Lord? This is Doris speaking"—likely a jab at spiritualists' claims to contact the dead through mediums, suggesting such conversations are childishly naive. Overall, Judge dismisses the spiritualist movement as elaborate nonsense dressed up in false respectability.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Aw Interview with EctopiasM “Dex call me a ghost,” he “We the interviewer, hever use that word any more—at least: among cetoplasms of the better sort.” AN said to He sat in a comfortable arm-chair, and the flowered figures of the upholstery: of the chair were visible through the trans- lucence of his body “Yes, we have our social distinctions of course,” he said in reply to a question. “One can’t associate with everybody. We have our clubs where congenial spirits congregat He laughed a ghostly laugh at the feeble joke. “And then, too, we have our intellec- tual groups. I’m vice-president of the Ectoplasmic Academy of Seance.” “Indeed,” said the interviewer. “What is the purpose of your organization?” “Just at present,” he replied, “we are investigating spiritualism. Many of our members don’t believe in it; they think it’s a fake. Personally, I'm on the fence. I always say that problems of that sort should be approached with an open mind; don’t you think so?” The interviewer said that he did “It's hard to carry on a really scientific investigation,” he said peevishly. “There Little Girl (saying her prayers)—Are you there, Lord? Last week I was in the midst of an address T was making at our monthly mecting when I was called away are so many interruptions. interrupted in the mid- to play the tambourine at some seance that was being held in New York. It was most annoying. The interviewer smiled sympatheti- cally. dle of a sentence “It isn’t as though I really eared about tambourine playing. I hate the darned thing. Even if you become proficient it’s pretty hard to get anything resembling a tune out of it. Now there's Bradish “Bradish?” said the interviewer. “Jabez Bradish, Ph.D. He was a great inventor in his day. He's president of our society. He was elected last year in recognition of his great invention, the Bradish Spirit Lamp. Bradish has gone in for mandolin — playing table rapping, and as you can readily understand, he’s in great demand. Poor Jabez is hardly ever home.” The thing I dislike most.” he that fool slate writin I always dictate to a stenographer myself. and when I do write I use a fountain pen. Why in thunder do they make us do that silly stunt of writing between two slates? You've no idea how hard it is.” “T never tried it,” said the interviewer. and con- tinued “is This is Doris speaking “Well, try it sometime. They keep putting bunches of flowers between the slates to make it harder. And then the darkness. You haven't a cigarette with you?” there's The interviewer handed him his cig- arette case. and lit it. “T was just dying, so to speak, for a smoke. It’s hard for us to get good The ectoplasm selected one tobacco.” m said something about the dark- the interviewer reminded him. “Yes. They always make us do those fool tricks in the dar Some of us don't mind it but I'm extremely nervous. I know it sounds absurd, but there's some thing weird and uncanny about the dark that has always scared me.” Yes, I know.” said the interviewer “T feel that way myself sometimes. They say psycho-analysis would cure it.” “We haven't any of those fellows vet 1 suppose when they do arrive they'll be so busy taking mandolin and banjo lessons that they won't have time to prac “There was a girl last year who wrote poctry.” said the interviewer. The ecto- plasm laughed mirthlessly. 's, Eknow her. Little Daffodil, we (Continued on page 32) ~ comicbooks.com