Judge — November 28, 1925 — page 35: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This is a **reader-participation contest page**, not a political cartoon. Judge magazine invited readers to complete an unfinished comic strip for a $25 prize. The three completed panels (by artist Milt Gross) show a slapstick domestic scenario: a man in a top hat appears to be juggling or managing items at a counter while interacting with a woman and child. The humor seems to involve physical comedy and domestic chaos—possibly depicting marital mishaps or child-rearing mishaps typical of 1920s-30s vaudeville-style humor. **The joke:** Readers had to invent a fourth panel (the blank space labeled "No. 4") that would deliver a funny punchline to conclude the sequence. The contest required originality of humor rather than artistic skill, explicitly barring professional artists. This reflects Judge's approach: soliciting audience participation in humor-making, appealing to the magazine's readership during the interwar period.