Judge, 1925-10-31 · page 32 of 37
Judge — October 31, 1925 — page 32: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page from *Judge* contains several distinct pieces of satirical content: **Top Section ("Total Collapse"):** A wordless comic strip satirizing collapsible furniture—showing a couple repeatedly failing to properly use/assemble collapsible chairs and tables, ending in complete physical collapse. The humor relies on physical comedy and the frustration of poor product design. **"Judging the Shows":** A theater review mocking Noel Coward's prolific output ("more Noel Coward plays in New York than Fords"). The critic dismisses "Hay Fever" as lacking substance despite fair comedy, faulting actress Laura Hope Crews for over-the-top performance unsuited to the rural English setting. **Three Short Joke Items:** Brief humorous anecdotes—one about a speedometer/car encounter, another about a Kansas farmer's wife caught in a tornado. These rely on double entendre and dark humor typical of 1920s magazine humor. The page reflects early-20th-century theatrical criticism and domestic comedy sensibilities, with drawing styles consistent with *Judge's* satirical tradition.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
office detectives would come on, shoot off their pistols, engage in a j chariot race and throw the China- man off the Brooklyn Bridge. Some- . thing of the sort is needed to give the play dramatic life. As it stands, it is too feeble to make Leo Newman richer than he is. And to make The Randiness of Tete collabsible tables a ~ matters worse, it is subjected to a performance that is much less suited to rural English comedy than to a Saturday night at the Club Bam. | 2 ville. Miss Crews is the greatest | offender. She exaggerates her per- formance to the point where one momentarily expects Bozo Snyder , to come on and do his dance. whe PIS “Is this the speedometer?” asked the pretty girl, tapping the glass with her finger. “Yes, dear,” he replied. “And that’s the clutch?” “That’s the clutch, darling,” he said, jamming on his brakes to avoid a fast approaching lorry. ‘" “But what on earth is this?” she a ‘ inquired, at the same time giving the accelerator a vigorous push with her Se foot... . $ ; “This, dear,” he said in a soft, / Yak oS / celestial voice, “is heaven.” And > picking up a harp he flew away. Z —Tit-Bits Collabse! ‘ Did He Finish? (te -w ye Total Collapse. “It’s an ill wind,” said the Kansas 7 farmer, as his nagging wife disap- —Humoriat. peared in the tornado, —American Legion Weekly Judging the Shows (Continued from page 16) Tl Bore many more days pass there will be more Noel Coward plays in New York than Fords. Two have been produced within the last ten days; another is announced for two weeks hence, and some three or four thousand others are due to come along by Christmas. The latest one is called “Hay Fever” and offers Laura Hope Crews in the réle of an actress who hasn’t heard public applause for some time, who longs once again to smear up with rouge and trot the boards, and who mean- while’ takes out her acting on the helpless members of her household. The play contains some fair comedy, but it is so lacking in body: and is, further, so talky that along Short-sighted Tailor—Well, sir, I should never have thought your toward ten o’clock the auditor can’t holidays would have made so much difference to your measurements! help wishing that a couple of central —Humorist. comicbooks.com