Judge, 1924-12-27 · page 9 of 35
Judge — December 27, 1924 — page 9: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Judge Magazine Satire Analysis This page satirizes **Professor Blotter**, a fictional inventor of useless railroad innovations. The humor targets early 20th-century Pullman car culture and pretentious "scientific progress." The main joke: Blotter invents absurd solutions to minor passenger complaints—a felt safety razor (which won't shave), a wooden safety device for getting dressed in cramped berths. The cartoon mocks inventors who overcomplicate simple problems and railroad companies that might adopt such impractical ideas. The opening dialogue jokes about class language: a cook dismisses euphemistic phrases like having people "under you," reflecting changing attitudes about servant hierarchies in this era. The "Funnybones" sidebar offers additional one-liners about modern inconveniences, typical of Judge's satirical format. The overall target: the gap between technological ambition and practical usefulness in the industrial age, and corporate obsession with "innovation" regardless of actual value.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“Have you been accustomed to having a kite Coox—In these days we never speak of having people “under us, The Absorbing Adventures of Professor Blotter Preressor tracted BLotterR, who at- international attention by inventing “Ledah,” ‘“Monahah,” and “Aloha,” the only three names which have never been used for Pull- man cars, has accepted a position with the general railroad offices. In this new capacity he plans to devote his time to the care and comfort of passengers, such as eliminating all magazines sold on trains which are not “Just Out To-da ing a porter who shines shoes all the round. As an instance of this desire to serve the passenger, Blotter has in- vented a wooden safety razor for use in Pullman lavatories. Inasmuch as the blade of this razor will be made of felt, he feels that many noses and ears will be saved each year, while the difference in the aver: Pull- man shave will be scarcely noticeable. At present Blotter is working on the problem of how to get on your trousers in a Pullman berth without first having to study for years as a contortionist with a circus. * or discover- ( ees Heated arguments might do some good if held in the right place. jut I have had colleagues. It seems that the professor at- tempted to get dressed in a berth recently, and after spilling all t change out of his pockets, bumping his head, spraining his back and getting his trouser leg twisted around his neck, he finally thrust in both legs and stood up, only to discover that he had gotten his pants on backwards. “Will you propose that people in Pullmans sleep eafter with their trousers on?" I asked. “T have a better solution,” replied the aged scientist. “I shall suggest to the company that they abolish the horizontal berth’ —he rocked on his toes—"“and in the future build all pullman bunks down.” straight up and Corey Ford see “You say Cohen was so badly hurt that he was speechless “Yes; both his arms were broken.” when brok just et the Rest of the World Go Buy. comicbooks.com