Judge, 1925-08-15 · page 14 of 37
Judge — August 15, 1925 — page 14: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a humorous comic strip about an American tourist couple visiting the Paris Opera. The satire targets American tourists' pretensions and cultural ignorance: 1. **The setup**: An American couple arrives at the opera dressed formally, expecting high culture. 2. **The jokes**: - Betty complains the opera building needs modern elevators instead of "old-fashioned" grand staircases—missing that the architecture *is* the attraction - Betty notes "the best part of the show is not on the stage"—implying she's more interested in people-watching than the performance - Her escort attempts French sophistication when asking the taxi driver for directions, but the driver responds in exaggerated immigrant dialect ("toity franks" for "thirty francs") **The satire**: Americans abroad are portrayed as culturally oblivious, dismissive of European heritage, and prone to encountering working-class immigrants who speak broken English despite the tourists' attempts at continental sophistication.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
r Betty says, “The best part of the show is not on the stage.” I should think they would put in ele- An American couple arrive pre- vators instead of this old-fashioned stair- pared to enjoy the opera. Betty’s escort carefully gives the address in French and ‘noes On © the driver says, “Yes, Buddy, dat’ll cost yuh toity franks.” onan comicbooks.com |