Judge, 1925-05-23 · page 23 of 36
Judge — May 23, 1925 — page 23: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satirical essay mocks a young woman's profound ignorance about American culture and media despite claiming to enjoy magazines. **The Setup:** The narrator describes a girl who reads *True Story, True Romances*, and *True Confessions*—mass-market magazines marketed to working-class women—but holds comically wrong beliefs about respected publications: she thinks *American Mercury* is a weather union trade journal, *Woman's Home Companion* is a "lounge lizard," and *Vanity Fair* relates only to perfumery exhibitions. **The Satire:** The piece ridicules both her vapid consumerism and anti-intellectualism. She reads magazines constantly yet cannot discuss religion, music, or culture intelligently. She prefers lowbrow sensationalism to serious literature, and her attempt to read *Hearst's* (likely a Hearst publication) before a date with an undertaker is absurd. **Social Context:** This targets the "flapper" or modern young woman stereotype of the 1920s-30s—she's fashionable, date-obsessed, but intellectually empty. The humorous illustrations reinforce the mockery of her shallow worldview.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
but wouldn't start the serial in it because she wouldn't ive ina hundred years when the next in. stallment appeared. Her favorite magazines are True Story, True Romances, True Confes- sions and all other such publications avowed veracity. She likes these. says. because truth is always wer than fiction. Well, if strangeness is what she wants the stuff she reads is strange enough The other day 1) said to her, “Have you seen the latest Jupgn?” didn't even know there'd been an She answered “No, who is he election.” I explained to her that Jepce was “the world’s wittiest: weekly.” Gvest—Seem to know your face—met you here before, I fancy. She said she'd never even heard of ost— ile it's my house! pe 2 3 anne Hoar —Verylikely—ats my hous it, She's the kind that never would, . + Carroll 1 Know a Girl— ” Sie thinks the American Mercury is the trade journal of the Con- solidated Weather Men's Unions of the Western Hemisy that The Woman's Home Companion isa lounge lizard and that Vanity Fair is another name for The National Perfumery Exhibition held annually } in New York, but she says she de love to read the magazines. says she thinks they're the salt of literature. She would. The other day she asked me if I knew where TE could get her some hack copies of Ainslee'’s as she was n YU Wein going out with a young student of theology and wanted to be able to talk intelligently on religious matters. She couldn't talk intelligently about the weather. s next time T met her she had a date with an under- taker and said she thought Mearst'« would be suitable prelimary read. ing. 1 asked her if she any interest: in musi She says she thinks (U1 right there) one can get more music knowledge by listening the radio for one night than by reading all the musical journals published. She may be right. You certainly hear things over the » that no musi- cian ever could have thought of. She believes that Smart Set is a point in tennis, that the Dial is \ { , HY y . 1” . ‘ } i 4 a published by the Telephone Com. =/\ — 7 Js ey * . wept | pany and that The Red Book is a = beg ee Cee ~ ail fh _ © Classified advertising directory, She #7 @7 elephant get its trunk in ils mouth and accidentally snot Wheel, says she a copy of Century once Things we'd like to see. | | a] L _ : ee _ _ a | 21 1 | comicbooks.com