Judge — July 5, 1924 — page 25: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This is a sequential comic strip by Mil Gross (signed "Mat Gross") showing a character's increasingly frantic interactions with a mailbox labeled "F. Schmalz Tailor - Open for Business." The humor follows a slapstick progression: the figure begins calmly checking the mailbox, then becomes progressively more agitated and physically contorted as he retrieves mail. By the final panels, he's crawling on the ground, appearing exhausted or defeated. The joke likely satirizes the frustration of receiving unwanted mail or bills—a relatable concern for early 20th-century readers. The character's name "Schmalz" (Yiddish slang for excessive sentimentality or "schlock") suggests this may carry ethnic humor typical of Judge magazine's era. The comic's appeal rests on visual exaggeration and physical comedy rather than political commentary.