Judge, 1924-12-06 · page 3 of 36
Judge — December 6, 1924 — page 3: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of "Judge Wants to Know" Cartoon This 1924 Judge magazine cartoon satirizes Prohibition enforcement. A police officer blocks a citizen from leaving his home, claiming "The air is like wine"—a sarcastic reference to the environmental effects of Prohibition-era bootlegging and home alcohol production. The three "wants to know" questions above mock the absurdities of Prohibition: - Why taxi-meters jump twenty cents as you arrive - What to tell a telephone girl to get her mail - What happened to old-fashioned people whose idea of a wild evening was a lunch game The cartoon ridicules both police overreach and the widespread illegal alcohol production that characterized Prohibition, suggesting that even the air itself smells of illicit fermentation. It's social commentary on the law's unpopularity and ineffectiveness.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
WANTS TO KNOW— WHY taxi-meters always jump an WHAT you have to say to a tele- WHAT has happened to the old extra twenty cents just as you are phone girl to get her mad. fashioned people whose idea of a wild stepping out at your destination. evening was a flinch game. EN—Can't go out to-day? —Can’t go out to-day. The air is like wine. comicbooks.com