Judge, 1925-05-09 · page 21 of 36
Judge — May 9, 1925 — page 21: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains **film criticism** and **social satire** from Judge magazine's "Reel Stuff" column by Carroll Carroll. The main cartoon mocks the extravagant premiere of "Madame Sans-Gêne" at the Rivoli Theater in New York. The film, a classic French story about Napoleon's era, was promoted as a prestige event but is satirized here as propagandistic—promoting an idealized "rags-to-riches" narrative (a laundress becoming a duchess) that conveniently glorifies social climbing during wartime. The humor targets two aspects: first, the film's implied message that even humble workers could rise to nobility; second, the premiere itself, which divided Manhattan's population into those permitted entry versus those kept out—a class-based divide the satirist finds ridiculous. The bottom cartoon makes a simpler joke about religious hypocrisy: a church collection plate now charges admission ("Pay as you enter"), prompting the joke that the minister's visit to New York corrupted spiritual values into commercialism. The "Coogan's Bluff" historical note appears unrelated, likely filler about a Polo Grounds prank.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
0 The Reel Stuf? By Carroll Carroll Sights See’n’ on Broad- way Grass--Go to it, The Last Laugh—The screens nearest approach t Quo Vadis—A five cus. The Lost World—Concerning those cute little brontosauri. As No Man Has Loved—Oh, pittle! The Fool—Read it and sleep! The Gloria’s Event son, caused no little mmo- tion in New York, which agita- tion reached its peak at the premiere presentation of miles and miles of film entitled “Mapame Sans-Géne,” in which the erstwhile Miss Swan- minor role, that of ns-Géne, the lead- ing part being played by the furniture and antique ac- coutrements of the various castles of France. This “world premiére of a famous classic,” as it was para- doxically pricked out in lights in front of the Rivoli Theater, was some shindig. It divided the population of Manhattan into two distinct groups, those helped to enter the and those t keep out. ‘The final four hundred” on everybody else on HISTORICAL NOTE Irishman walking into Polo Grounds backwards so that they'd think he was coming out. This piece of impudence is known as “Coogan's Bluff.” coon000000NDDONNDNDOODOOOOOONDONOOONDONONONOOOOOONDO00000N0NNNNN » police The wh iFair, including the picture, looked to me like propaganda propounded — by “The Associated Independent Laundry Men of the World,” calling, as it did for such quan- ti of dress shirts, and indi- eating that even such an humble person as a scrubber of socks might rise to be a Duchess of France, which is the story of the picture. But that was during Napoleon's reign. (Continued on page 28) “Pay as you enter, eh? [told you no good would come of the minister visiting New York.” Ooo00000000000NNNDNNNDOONDOOOOONONDOONODONNONNNDNONONDOODNNDNNNNND comicbooks.com