Judge, 1925-03-07 · page 9 of 36
Judge — March 7, 1925 — page 9: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "Business Is Picking Up" by Arthur L. Lippmann This satirical cartoon mocks 1920s radio sales practices. A clever radio shop salesman sells two customers by fraudulently tuning to their desired stations—Chicago and Los Angeles—through what appears to be legitimate radio reception. The punchline reveals the con: a man named Joe hidden in the cellar, speaking into a telephone transmitter strapped to his chest, impersonating radio broadcasts. The satire targets both deceptive salesmanship and early radio's still-mysterious technology. Consumers didn't fully understand how radio worked, making them vulnerable to such tricks. The joke also suggests radio's limited actual broadcast range at the time, requiring the "help" of a human operator to deliver what customers expected to hear.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Business Is Picking Up WANT a radio set that will pick up Chicago.” announced the brusque, impatient business man, darting into the radio shop. “Very simple, sir.” announced the suave salesman with confident smile, ‘just be seated before the loudspeaker.” The salesman turned to a small, efficient looking set and twirled the dials. In a moment, distinctly and clearly, the announcement floated into the store: “You will now listen to Station PN satisfied smile played over the pros pective purchaser's face and the sale was closed. Ten minutes later a native-born Californian stepped in. “Just. try and pick up Los Angeles for me,” he Mr. Snorth swears by his one-tube xet. Crossword Cheer Pan a . Epoch, er -\S TT Temper, anger, i aN f za Do-re-mi and fa Egyptian sun god—Ra! Ra! Ra! iron, age; nd rage; sae Gerty, the telephone and telegraph companies do not pay a poll tax. A FAMILY TRAIT Prumper’s Wirre—Oh, Trumped John, run back and get my The caveman won his bride with fame mK bathing suit, ve forgotten it. a club. The modern man does it with a diamond. timidly suggested. "Very simple. | sir.” answered the enterprising sales- man. Again, his skilled — fingers caressed the dials. In a moment, even more clearly, the announcement was heard: “Station KHJ, Los Angeles.” A look of delight illumi- nated the features of the diminutive Californian as he hurriedly purchased the set. Six o'clock came and the store pre- pared to close up for the night. The efficient salesman walked over to the cellar door and cupped his hands. “Oh, Joe.” he shouted down, ome on up—it’s quitting time.” Ina moments Joe appeared with a tele- phone transmitter strapped around his chest. “Good work, Joe.” his companion announced, “we sold two sets to-day, but be sure to study up to-night on your Spanish and Irish dialects. There’s a feller comin’ from Mexico and another from Killarney to- morrow to hear that set.” Arthur Lo Lippmann comicbooks.com