Judge, 1925-12-26 · page 16 of 37
Judge — December 26, 1925 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three satirical pieces mocking Christmas sentimentality and social behavior: **Top cartoon**: A wife gives her husband a homemade necktie and knitted needlework; he pretends gratitude while mentally calculating the expense of the boudoir table he must buy her—satirizing the commercialization masked by holiday sentiment. **"Origin of Famous Proverbs"**: The main story mocks the cliché "Christmas Comes But Once a Year." A wealthy but clueless young man (de Wiffle) falls for Sadie Cohen, a working-class woman on the subway. When he asks a truckster to give up his seat so she can sit nearby, the worker snaps, "Whaddye think this is, Christmas?"—exposing that seasonal "goodwill" is a thin veneer. De Wiffle gets beaten up, but finds comfort that his naive words will echo through the ages. **Lower cartoon**: Shows a chaotic subway scene during holiday rush hour—umbrellas jabbed in eyes, violence disguised as "give and take"—satirizing the contradiction between Christmas's peace-and-goodwill messaging and actual urban behavior. The satire targets both false sentimentality and class pretension during the holidays.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
needlework: before. boudoir table in there, that I knocked together myself. Origin of Famous Proverbs “Christmas Comes But Once a Year” I" was a quiet rush hour in the New York Subway. Young women were jamming their umbrellas into young men’s eyes and young men, not being able to see the young women because of the wounds, sat calmly reading their evening papers. The holiday spirit prevailed. It was just give and take. You'd give some one a poke and take a jab in return. Into this merry maelstrom William the house and all the presents from our friends!” Santa Claus delivers a Christmas present to a New York address. Wire—Here’s a necktie I knitted for you, dear, and I never did any Hussanp—Thanks, awfully. Merry Christmas, and yowll find a . 4 De Wiffle, of the South Bensonhurst de Wiffles, wended his way. He was the true aristocrat. He read the financial page, and wondered what it meant. Standing next to de Wiffle was little Sadie Cohen, an Irish colleen, the pride of the Bronx. She beamed one of her sweetest smiles upon the young de Wiffle. The beam struck him square in the heart and he immediately sent a telegram home, “set another place at the table stop I’m in love stop my allowance is due please don’t stop Willie.” Finally the train stopped ‘and some one got off, thinking it was his station. William occupied the vacated seat. After a while he thought he would like to have the idol of his heart sitting next to him so gently tapping the truckster on his left he said: “Don’t you think the gentlemanly thing to do would be to give this young lady your seat?” The truckster took one look at William and replied, “Say, Buddy, whaddye think this is, Christmas?” William took one more look at the truckster and brought the conversa- tion to an unsatisfactory conclusion with, “Oh, no, my dear fellow, I am quite aware of the fact that Christ- mas comes but once a year.” Although William will be an invalid for life, he is made happy in his incapacity by the knowledge that his sage words have come, and will continue to go, ringing down through “For wreath a s jolly good fel- low.” a comicbooks.com