Judge — September 5, 1925 — page 14: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This satirical comic mocks American tourists in 1920s Paris. The top panels show Betty discovering Parisian attractions—a leaning tower of stacked dishes (parodying the Tower of Pisa), a chic bar, and cafés. The bottom panel depicts "the Café de la Paix" where "Butter and Egg Men from the Western Hemisphere gather"—a period slang term for wealthy, unsophisticated American businessmen who'd made fortunes and now flaunted wealth abroad. The cartoon ridicules American tourists as culturally clueless spenders who replace authentic European experiences with gaudy American-style establishments and excess. The "kick" Betty gets from "little French cafés" suggests she's enjoying superficial, commercialized tourism rather than genuine culture. This reflects post-WWI American prosperity and the stereotype of brash American wealth abroad.