Judge, 1925-06-06 · page 20 of 36
Judge — June 6, 1925 — page 20: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a humorous satire mocking Americans' fascination with exotic archaeological discoveries abroad while ignoring absurd "finds" at home. The joke catalogs fictional "ancient relics" supposedly unearthed in the U.S.: a perfectly preserved "Eskimo Pie" in Illinois, Mah-Jongg tiles under Niagara Falls (dated impossibly to 1924), a self-help book in the Grand Canyon, beer-drinking ephemera in Duluth, and a cat in pajamas in the Catskills. The satire targets 1920s fads and recent trends—Coué's auto-suggestion movement ("Every Day in Every Way I'm Getting Better"), Prohibition-era speakeasies, the "cat's pajamas" slang, and the brief popularity of Mah-Jongg. By presenting these contemporary items as ancient artifacts, the piece ridicules both Americans' credulity about "discoveries" and the era's obsession with trendy novelties. The top cartoon adds visual humor: a ship captain startles a passenger by announcing they'll "luff" (sail into the wind), prompting panic about seasickness—a simple slapstick joke about nautical terminology.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
—————— s Caprain—aAll right, mum, we're goin’ to luff. SRE te STARTLED PassENGER—No, you aren't, not me! Ain’t Nature Grand? HAME on us! We sit home and read all about the explora- tions being made in Asia, Africa and tropical oceans, but never read about the wonderful old relics being unearthed right here in little old U.S. A. Do you know that— In the northern part of Illinois two farmers unearthed a perfectly preserved “Eskimo Pic,” widely used by early Americans as a food or confection. It will be sent to the Smithsonian Institute. Hundreds of strange little ivory and bamboo cubes have been dug up under Niagara Falls. The little cubes contain quaint, Chinese char- acters and are thought to be “Mah Jongg” (pronounced mah jongg) tiles, a game played carly in A.D. 1924. At the bottom of the Grand Can- yon an old battered book was found with the title “Every Day in Every Way I'm Getting Better and Better.” Professor; Manard, formerly second baseman for the Boston Braves, says Here reposes a X-word femme, Horizontal, and siz feet deep. She asked her hubby at three a. m. For a four-letter word meaning sleep. pasa he titer belae Ag, aire Ge pary9 95 L0F OCH One pring atl at The nezt thing we know they'll be wearing trains on their trouser legs. it is a relic of the Koo-Koo Coué period before King Koolidge’s reign of silence. In Duluth a beer stein, a bar rail and six ounces of sawdust were unearthed while workingmen were excavating. Three quaint old signs were found nearby reading: “Bums Lay off the Free Lunch,” “Biggest in Town for a Nickel” and “Family Entrance.” Two or three local revenue officers can remember vaguely something about having heard of such strange things. A brown derby—said once to have been worn by American men—was found in Danbury, Conn, In the Catskill Mountains there has just been discovered the fossilized body of a cat. Near by are shreds of cloth, in a fairly good state of preservation. After an examination of the cloth shreds, Professor Leowiz identified them as the only Ameri- can relic of the cat's pyjamas, one of the best known feline garments ever known to early America. Arthur L. Lippmann 0000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000 | 0 comicbooks.com