Judge, 1925-12-12 · page 8 of 37
Judge — December 12, 1925 — page 8: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "The Adventures of Flubb and Tubb" - Context for Modern Readers This is a serialized humorous story (not a political cartoon) satirizing the 1920s Florida real estate boom. Tobias Tubb, a salesman for the Flubb Flower Pot Company in New York, drives to Florida in a decrepit "flivver" (cheap car, likely Model T Ford) to sell flower pots—representing get-rich-quick schemes that lured Americans south during the speculative land rush. The satire mocks the era's unbridled optimism: Tubb is portrayed with religious fervor ("Crusaders," "Promised Land") selling mundane flower pots. The competing "Little Eva Flower Pot Co." from Jacksonville represents local competition. The melodramatic tone—gang attacks, dramatic confrontations—exaggerates the cutthroat business tactics of the period. The story ridicules both the desperate salesmen and the frenzy of speculation that characterized Florida's boom before its inevitable 1926 bust.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The Sweet Buy and Buy HE shimmering Florida sun beamed lazily on a shining rib- bon of white concrete road. Flivvers from Philadelphia, Buicks from Dubuque, roadsters from Rhode Island and sundry automotive vehicles, ancient and modem, asth- matic and healthy, from all parts of the country, chugged down the paved trails, looking for the pot of gold or certified check at the end of the realty rainbow. But one rattling good flivver, its mudguards and frame squeaking and shrieking a shrill cacophony of un- oiled protest, led all the rest. Draped over its wheel was a thin frame, com- pletely covered with a long linen duster. Two chipper, cheery eyes peered through an enormous pair of goggles. ‘Two tense hands in mighty motorman’s gloves gripped the wheel of this thundering chariot that was making all of twenty-five miles an hour. ‘The face was that of Tobias Tubb, general factotum for the Flubb Flower Pot Company, Flubb Build- ing, New York, and at the moment spreading the fame of Flubb flower pots throughout Florida. There shone in his eager eyes the righteous zeal of the Crusaders. Balboa gazing at the mighty Pacific, Columbus getting ‘byArthurL. Lippmann “Tobias!” roared Flubb, flourishing his cane, “henceforth we part!” his first eye full of what later became the Benighted States of America, Napoleon peeping at the first piece of pastry that was to bear his name, none of these historical gentlemen could have been more enthusiastic than Tobias Tubb, emissary of com- merce, as his flivver marked “Flubb Flower Pots,” scuttled toward the Promised Land, where flower pots were needed and credit ratings were Object of gang attack—Help! Help! ubb an©Tubb But what is this on the horizon? It draws nearer! ‘Tis at the mile, at the quarter, and now a scant hundred yards behind the Flubb Selling Fleet. It is a powerful Velvet 8 roadster, purring like a con- vention of spinsters. pampered pussy cats. On the door is marked: “Little Eva Flower Pot Co., Jacksonville, Fla. A bend appears (as bends will) in the road and both cars disappear from sight. Tobias, our hero, is being followed. He is being dogged by a car that purrs like acat. What shall we do at this juncture? Shall we send for theU.S.Cavalry? Isthere a camp of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police nearby? Where are Frank Merriwell, the gunboat Re- liance, and our ever faithful St. Bernard? Gone, every one! But, one minute, please, to change loca- tions and part two will follow. ee eve The twenty-second floor of the Flubb Building in New York, head- quarters of the Flubb Flower Pot Company, was agog. Thundering bellows welled from the office of Henry Flubb, president, rolled through the corridors and dis- appeared down the elevator shafts. The weather bureau on the roof hoisted storm signals. Frightened (Continued on page 26) comicbooks.com