Judge, 1925-02-07 · page 15 of 36
Judge — February 7, 1925 — page 15: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes early silent films and their absurd plots. The title—Latin for "the unknown explained by the more unknown"—signals the joke: the "play" outlined is deliberately nonsensical, mocking how incomprehensible early cinema narratives could be. The setup parodies theatrical programs with character names like "A Russian Dressing," "A Shop Window Dressed," and "An Automobile Horn," poking fun at the pretentiousness and randomness of avant-garde theater and film. The "plot" is intentionally incoherent: a Saturday afternoon at the Ritz where doorbells, telephones, and boxing rings all ring simultaneously; Fredricka faints; then the curtain drops for "forty years to denote lapse of seven and a half minutes." The final act introduces Tarzan dropping through the skylight—a complete non-sequitur that underscores the satire's point: early cinema had bewildering, illogical narratives that audiences somehow accepted. The humor targets both filmmakers' pretension and viewers' patience for nonsensical plots.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Ignotum per Ignotius A Screaming Comedy Taken from the Janglo-Klaron Portraying Youth as It Was Lied in the Early Earlies MEMBERS OF THE COMPANY In Automobile Horn, Out on a Toot Three Frosted Chocolates A Seidel of Boer Psyinglymafroplositeh, Very Rich Medium A Russian Dressing A Chorus Girl Undressing A Shop Window Dressed Here Schimmel pfennig. The Burgomaster (later the post-master) He She It And sometimes Wand Y. Scene First It is Saturday aftermoon in’ the lobby of the Ritz in’ New York. Outside on the street it is chilly. The factory girls have all gathered for tea and are whooping it up pretty free. Horses are heard in the dis- tance. An auton exits CO. D. Martha—Vis 10.30 and father is not home vet, neither has he phe Ah me and eke, alas! Perch is a lass that thus keepeth my pater from me! Nach cin mal, ah iters FLO. Be nt ANY “Say Jimmy, ain't dat de quy dat wouldu't let yer cut across his lawn when we was delirerin’ papers?” me, but no alas! (She wrings her hands.) he doorbell rings. We telephone rings. The piston rings. The fourth round ends in a clinch, with the champion still fresh. Fredri water bi stepping out of a hot ing right into her dance) rel faint. Wire (who has been discoursing)—Well? Are you going to start that thing this crening or not? “As soon as you sign off, my dear.” Lady Godira (donning a bung: apron and cor vo fired from AIL fall dead excepting hiful Old Jervis who circulates about the st from the strewn t picking souvenirs The curtain is lowered for forty years to denote lapse of seven and a half minutes (standard ti Epilogue . come and the Jat work putting her, They : s. however, bocats¢ The spri happy pair a their bed t very little pro; the pillow slips. Tarzan (dropping through the sky- light and carrying a | Lit piece of sky ino one hand and a monkey wrench in’ the other) Is this the theater? funt Abigail (ooking up from her tatting with a queer expression of mixed reproach and om If it ain't I'm a cockeye gun, son of it Curtain Carroll Gold-di “Use well before shaking.” ger’s Motto comicbooks.com