Judge, 1924-09-27 · page 14 of 36
Judge — September 27, 1924 — page 14: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This Judge magazine page contains three distinct pieces of satire from the Prohibition era: **"The Cozy Corner"** is an advice column where readers describe domestic situations with dark humor. One woman describes poisoning her husband's coffee with shellac and fusel oil (industrial chemicals) to keep him home instead of attending a speakeasy—and the columnist endorses this as the "lesser of two evils." This satirizes both bootleggers' prevalence during Prohibition and the desperation of wives trying to control their husbands' drinking. **"Funnybones"** offers brief jokes poking fun at fashion and behavior—women in sheer skirts casting shadows, burglars confident they're unobserved. **"Answers to Famous Questions"** humorously "solves" the nursery rhyme "Who Killed Cock Robin?" using absurdist mathematical and dictionary logic, ultimately blaming a woman for failing to recognize a bridge-playing signal. This mocks both pseudo-intellectual problem-solving and appears to stereotype women as foolish. The overall tone reflects Judge's satirical commentary on 1920s American life: Prohibition's hypocrisy, domestic tensions, and social absurdities.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The Cozy Corner Dear Cozy Corner: We have been much troubled by tarantulas lately in our little bunga- low, and my husband has devised a clever way of exterminating them. He has fastened a number of little mirrors to our baseboards, and when the tarantula sees his reflec- tion in them, he thinks it an enemy, dashes himself against the mirror, and beats his brains out. Arachne, Arizona Dear Cozy Corner: My. husband of late has been attending the meeting of a social club whose bootlegger must be of doubtful honesty. Last night was club night, and at supper I poured | into his coffee a mixture of equal parts shellac and fusel oil. He drank three cups eagerly, but did not report present when the club met. He awoke this morning with a severe headache and empty pockets. Don’t you think that, as long as the effect is the same, I am justified in keeping my husband f where I can summon medical at- tendance immediately if necessary, and also save the missing money for our growing kiddies? Medea, California ] There seems no doubt that yours , is the lesser of two evils, but we do hope you use only the very best shellac. Auntie Bella te Funnybones ; To prolong the life of your bathing suit take it off before entering the water. Gaadge will pay 85 for @ach one printed Women who are afraid of their own shadow should never wear a dia- phanous skirt. Buraar (to confederate in cellar) —Come on, Pete, we can male our get-away easy. Not a soul in sight! Darn clever, these artist chaps! heey fe, Answers to Famous Questions I Who Killed Cockrobin? Tsere is only one sane approach to a solution of this deep-dyed mystery that has puzzled both the law and the clergy down through theages. Irefer, naturally enough, to the super-introspective hydraulic method, indorsed by the U. S. Chamber of Commerce. Who killed cockrobin? Let X stand for-the cock; Y for the rol We then have XY equal to cockrobin and are getting on splendidly, don’t you think? The next point is to determine with whom XY was last seen. Find Z and the chances are we will be mighty close to the guilty party. Who is Z? The dictionary helps us here. Z stands for zany, a buf- foon or simpleton. The matter now has been -re- duced to a purely commercial prop- osition. ‘Think up the person you wish to have indicted for the brutal murder of poor cockrobin, and the thing is as good as done. My personal choice for Z happens to be a woman. Last week she failed to recognize my double of a two-heart bid as a call for her best suit. Let justice be done. Torrey Ford comicbooks.com