Judge, 1926-04-10 · page 3 of 36
Judge — April 10, 1926 — page 3: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "The Millennium" - Judge Magazine Satire This page satirizes early 1920s social changes during Prohibition and the Jazz Age. The poem "The Millennium" by R.C. O'Brien lists absurd reversals: wives stop nagging husbands, ladies abandon poodles, columnists cease writing, radio bans sopranos, England's prime minister joins a fox hunt "unlorsed." The accompanying cartoon shows a man receiving congratulations—captioned "His cigarette lighter worked"—a joke about the unreliability of new consumer products or technology of the era. The satire mocks optimistic predictions about modern progress and social improvement. The "millennium" title is ironic; instead of utopian change, Judge suggests society will experience the same chaos and small frustrations, just in new forms. The piece reflects 1920s anxiety about rapid technological and social transformation.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
©cig8697470 “*‘LIFE LIBERTY AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS’?® JUDGE The Millennium Cue a day when hell froze over, As predicted by a seer, Then a lot of strange things happened, Some of which are listed here. Wives stopped picking on their hus- bands, Ladies shot their poodle dogs, Calvin Coolidge waxed loquacious, Columnists stopped rolling logs. Radio barred all sopranos, Prohibition was enforced, England’s prince joined in a fox hunt, And not once was he unhorsed. Motorists talked back to policemen, ‘Tabloid papers printed news, Movie heroes lost their fist fights, And the Ku Klux praised the Jews. Speculators sold at discounts Tickets for the latest hits, No one traveled in the subway, Morons lived upon their wits. Bulldogs got along with kittens, Cats, in turn, stopped chasing mice, Women’s dresses hit their shoe-tops, Colored gents stopped rolling dice. Advertisers knocked their products, Scotchmen all commenced to treat, Janitors gave civil answers, Butchers gave away their meat. But the ice soon thawed in Hades, And it got as warm could be, Then, of course, conditions elsewhere Went right back to normalcy. R. C. O'Brien “Why is Pere receiving so many congratulations?” “His cigarette lighter worked.” comicbooks.com