Judge, 1925-12-19 · page 18 of 39
Judge — December 19, 1925 — page 18: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page showcases Judge magazine's promotional contests circa the 1920s-30s. The "Homely Kiddies" contest features deliberately ugly baby caricatures competing for cash prizes—a tongue-in-cheek humor typical of the era. The accompanying poem "Those Contest Blues" by Hugh Wood satirizes the magazine's contest obsession itself, with a writer exhausted from constantly entering limericks, jingles, and various competitions for meager prizes ("the Lucky Two-dollar Bill"). The right-hand limerick contest invites readers to complete: "There was an old man from Peru..." The "Dinner" vignette at bottom satirizes a restaurant's gimmick: hiding buttons in soup bowls so lucky diners win free dessert—absurdist advertising humor. Overall, the page mocks both Judge's relentless use of contests to boost readership and the public's desperate participation in them. The satire targets Depression-era economic anxiety masked by entertainment culture.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
: 7 $ THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS JUDGE'S GREAT $ GIVEN AWAY! LIMERICK. _~ A CONTEST! $ $ _ Thousands of Dollars Given $ $ Away for the Best Last Line for This $ Limerick $ $ There was an old man from Peru. There was an old man from Peru. . $ There was an old man from Peru. There Wassissiciss sseeatetionig $ RULES a $ [ORE ree seme POR Es ONY MET Wr mee Marquis of Queensbury. § $ THE “HOMELY KIDDIES” CONTEST Golden. $ As you know, Juve is holding a “Homely Kiddies” contest. You'll have Tron. $ to go some to get your fist full of money—for here are the first two entrants. And what have you, $ $- Those Contest Blues $ L™ formerly free, and to say the least, $ savory $ Now is for me just a nightmare of slavery. Nights that were jovial, gay and hilarious $ Find me in contests now, varied and various. $ Burn low my candles with constantly dimmer $ winks, $ I, nearly frantic, write last lines for limericks. Coatless and vestless, I, minus my collar, will $ Search till the dawn for the Lucky Two- $ dollar Bill. $ Contests for singles and jingles and wittiness, $ Others for photos of feminine prettiness. $ Contests for writings adorably amorous, $ Sweet billets-doux romantically glamorous. Contests for amateur, home impresarios, $ Others for bald-headed, portly Lotharios— $ Contests for wise-cracks and prize-cracks and $ cm eseni ws $ Others for fighters and writers and artisans. Contests historical—also rhetorical, $ Contests convivial, trite ones and trivial— EY $ Contests of mystery—contests of history— \ < $ Merge aa mind in a mad, mocking iN - $ $ Grip my poor soul with bewitchery deadly! Duver—Look here! A button in this soup! What's the idea? $ Sad, tho, my heart, when I cannot be in one— Dirvomatic ManacEr—My dear sir—allow me to congratulate you. And maybe, some day,I may actually win Each day we put one button in the soup and the lucky customer finding it $ onel Hugh Wood’ receives dessert free. $ $$PssFsFsFSss ss sss ssFF$FSEHE SE SS FS at SESSSSESSSSSSSHSSSESSSSSSS 8 Hy comicbooks.com