Judge, 1925-07-18 · page 19 of 37
Judge — July 18, 1925 — page 19: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page reviews theatrical revues, particularly the "Grand Street Follies"—downtown New York productions. The text praises these modest shows for their satirical humor, contrasting them favorably with Broadway's big productions (referencing Florenz Ziegfeld and George White's more elaborate revues). The cartoons illustrate show business themes: the top section depicts theatrical performances and backstage scenarios; the bottom comic titled "The Gorilla" shows a man and woman encountering another couple, with the woman's quip suggesting the newcomers are unattractive ("funny looking"). The satire celebrates lowbrow, scrappy downtown theater's genuine comedic wit over Broadway's spectacle. The page mocks pretentious theatrical producers while defending working-class entertainment's value. References to Robert Fulton's steamboat humorously emphasize the contrast between sophisticated Manhattan and the less-developed Lower East Side where these revues played.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
1 yod get that $3,000?” goodjito get $3,000 in» Phila- out of this ithe bottom of more original humor in one of these down-town revues than you will find anywhere else in town. The future of our revue stage would seem to lie in this ulterior part of the city where you can’t see the sidewalks for the banana peel and where the appearance of a taxicab is greeted with the same amazement as was vouchsafed Robert Fulton's first steamboat. These “Grand Street Follies,” as may be surmised even by one not conspicuously gifted in clairvoyance, cannot boast girls who would alarm Ziegfeld, or dancers who would cause George White to go pale or scenery that would make Carroll and Anderson bite their nails, but what they can boast is a sense of fun and a feeling for satirical burlesque that none of the other and otherwise estimable gentlemen can boast, even with three beers in them. If there are more amusing burlesques on Broadway than the Grand street “They Knew What They Wanted Under the Elms” and “What Price Morning-glories?” I haven't seen them, (Continued on page 30) “The Gorilla” “Have you seen anything funny around here?” “Not until you two gentlemen came in!” ‘Comicbooks.com