Judge, 1925-02-28 · page 25 of 36
Judge — February 28, 1925 — page 25: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This article mocks the era's obsession with rigid social etiquette rules. The main text presents fictional newspaper snippets imagining a dystopian future where minor breaches of manners—picking teeth publicly, drinking coffee from a saucer, wearing wrong shoes—become serious social crimes warranting arrest, fines, or even murder justifications. The satirical point: advertising and advice columns of the time relentlessly promoted "proper" behavior, suggesting that violations could destroy romantic prospects and social standing. Judge suggests this is absurd hysteria. The cartoons reinforce this: one shows a woman descending stairs improperly (possibly the "tan button shoes" violation); another depicts a trained dog that cannot detect alcohol in crowds—commentary on how useless rigid rules are in practical life. The author (Arthur L. Lippmann) critiques how commercialized etiquette anxiety manipulates consumers into buying conformity.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
— ' The Price of Propriety E social faur pas is the current i horror of horrors. Each week | | more budding romances and happy if | homes are being ruined, according to H |] the advertising columns, by crass a ignorance in the subtler conventions. Hi | Sooner than we realize the daily i | papers will be carrying paragraphs | somewhat like these: i “Susan Swishy indignantly denied | reports to-day that she was matri- i monially considering Henry Mews- lach. ‘I wouldn't be seen with a man who doesn’t know how to enter | | a ballroom,’ she added. Susan oper- | it ates riveting machine No. 4, at the | ‘an Foundries.” “To whom it may concern: It hav- | ing come to my attention that my 1 wife, Bertha Spratt, has been ob- Hh | served picking her teeth in public and shining her shoes by rubbing them | against her stockings, I will not be | responsible for any further debts con- | } il tracted oF trespasses committed by | | her—Jack Spratt.” i | \ “Convicted of murdering her fiancé, i) Rosie Rosen, when interviewed to-day H by reporters, said: ‘I murdered f Jake because he drank coffee from it the saucer. I should have been | 4 warned when I noticed that he wasn’t | iy particular about little personal things i) that men neglect.” “For wearing tan button shoes with ij a full dress suit at the annual out- ing of the Subway Guards’ Rod and i Gun Club, Max X. Press was fined } $100 to-day by Magistrate Flanagan i in Etiquette Court. criminal branch.” | Sauntering up Park avenue last } | evening with two pretty young : = a f women, Algernon Fish was observed f walking on the inside, nearer the Bospie—Hey, papa! I'll get you my sled if you want it! { buildings, leaving the two young i women on the outside toward the i | curb. Outraged by this flagrant violation of common decency a mob i of taxi-drivers soon gathered and ‘ were at the point of violence when ' the Decorum Division arrived from headquarters and beat the crowd 4 j back with drawn clubs and machine i guns. Fish was held in $50,000 bail } for a hearing to-day. The police j state he has a bad record, having } been convicted of eating with a knife, | failing to remove his hat in an i elevator and improperly introducing i The boozchound with the supersensitive scent, and trained to stand and two strangers from Des Moines iW | point in the direction of any alcoholic beverage was found absolutely useless on many time: | | any crowded thoroughfare. Arthur L, Lippmann | / — comicbooks.com