Judge, 1925-11-14 · page 21 of 37
Judge — November 14, 1925 — page 21: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This humorous essay by Carroll satirizes the hidden costs of purchasing an early radio set. The author was sold on the promise of an affordable "$150 five-tube set" by friends, only to discover the advertised price excluded essential components—tubes, batteries, wire, and installation labor—ultimately costing him $250+ and requiring him to mortgage his clothes. The satire targets both deceptive sales practices and the author's own naïveté. The punchline—"radi-owe"—is a play on "radio" and "owe," suggesting the device should be called a debt instrument. Additional humor comes from the radio's uselessness (it only receives the milkman at 4:37 a.m.) and its marital consequences (his wife uses the aerial for laundry; he suffers guilt over the expense). The page also advertises a new comic series, "The Adventures of Flubb and Tubb," by Arthur L. Lippmann.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Hence Radio nti I bought one I never knew why they called the wireless telephone, radio. “Tt won’t cost much. You can get a good five-tube set for about $150,” my friends told me. At least, I thought they were my friends. Finally, I bought a set. It djdn’t work. It developed that I lacked most of the parts. All I’d bought was the set, what I needed was some tubes, some batteries (a whole al- phabet of those) some wire, a horp and about $100 more. I’d borrowed the money to buy the box. I mort- gaged my clothes to get the parts. Finally, after paying a talkative gentleman quite a bit of change to put the contraption in running order, I got something. It was a bill. Later I got laughed at by my friends, who told me if I’d only asked them they’d have tipped me off what set to buy, and that I had the worst one in the world, and if I’d come up to their house they’d get Timbuctoo for me, and I did, and they did. “Gosh,” I though, in my naive way, “if I’m going to have a radio I might’s well get some pleasure out of it.” I’ve since found that’s im- possible. I sold my old set to a little boy who wanted to make a wagon and bought a new one for $200 stripped. A radio set, like a woman, costs a lot to dress. I furnished mine in great style, four-wheel brakes, balloon tires, disc wheels, and a fancy parking light. I even had an aerial. My wife found it very handy on wash days. All this with installation cost me another prince’s ransom. Maybe not a very im- portant ransom, but a darned im- portant ransom. Now the set works fine. At ex- actly 4.37 a.m. I can get the milk- man. When company comes I can get a nervous breakdown trying to prove what a swell set I have. When nobody but my wife is at home I can get the devil by just mentioning how much the set cost me. And when I am all alone I can get terrible pangs of remorse for the same reason. Am I the only one who really knows why they call it radi-owe? Carroll AUG, a Here lies a patient, Calm and restful; The operation Was successful. feb AIF FTW odd nl ge payS45 1% €0Ch Bog prt lg STARTING A NEW SERIES The Adventures FLUBB“” TUBB Arthur L. Lippmann made such a success with his first short story, “Re-Recreation,” that he has put these two amusing characters in a Series and JUDGE will run them from time to time. The second story in The Adventures of Flubb and Tubb will be called “AUCTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS” and will appear NEXT WEEK IN JUDGE.