Judge, 1925-02-21 · page 15 of 36
Judge — February 21, 1925 — page 15: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page is a satirical commentary on **magazine publishing and editorial tastes**. The unnamed editor boasts of his high position while admitting he publishes sensational content—"Telling Tales"—despite recognizing it's not in good taste. The satire targets how different magazines appeal to specific audiences: *Life Stories* and *Whiz Bang* for adventure-seekers; *Atlantic Monthly* for travel enthusiasts; *Ladies Home Journal* and *Woman's Home Companion* for domestic readers. The author cleverly names real popular magazines to mock how editors tailor content to demographic niches. The accompanying cartoons illustrate this: one shows working-class melodrama ("Drama! Will heaven help the poor working girl?"), another depicts frivolous movie-going. The final anecdote—about a young man encountering a mysterious woman—is a parody of pulp romance narratives found in these magazines, complete with the clichéd ending: "She was only the coal man's daughter but oh, boy!" The overall point: editors cynically exploit readers' appetite for manufactured sentimentality and formulaic stories while claiming cultural sophistication.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
\ | | | | A Magazine Story LO gta utr os, oy | | T Confess being an editor is an Wy Yi ty, | { | Ace High position and makes me feel LOGO ee i | Independent but being fond of Out- | door Life, Yachting and Adrenture | I may publish things which are not | the Vogue. Telling Tales is my pro- fession but using Printers’ Ink is a different: matter. } | What do people like to see in | print? Lire Stories, Snappy Stories, Breezy Stories or Whiz Bang stories of af Country Life around the Farm and Fireside. People who cross the Atlantic Monthly are just: crazy wt Sea Stories and love to Trarel around the | Wide World. | Mfter reading the Ladies Home Journal 1 find the Top Notch, redle- mar- Woman's Home Companion i - craft, especially Uhose whe ried. 1am somewhat of a Bookman and my System for Success should be Everybody's. Having invented many things for \ Good Housekeeping V feel as though I aim really a Scientific American and the man of the Century but Current Opinion differs with me and says Tam just a Delineator of Child Life y The other day I opened Cupid's Veteran—Young woman, are you atrare that I once took: the part of the | Diary and read a True Story of an Great Dane? American Boy in Asia who went to “Well, ya oughta had more sense than to horn into a dog fight.” the Vanity Fair to see Arts and Deco- | rations and just as the Sunset he | went into Harper's Bazaar to buy a ] a Dial. He was looking at a Popular | | VS Radio machine when he saw a _, &b Modern Priscilla who was very fond _ ance of Motor Life talking to an Athlete — hh n: and Sportsman. She had a Red Book § yi under her arm but her companion | must have been very strong as he was carrying a House and Garden. She wore a Black Mask which hid her | ft] Beauty so Wer Identity remained a Mystery. Ed Wynn wae h She was only the coal man’s daughter but oh, boy! where she hin. comicbooks.com