Judge, 1926-06-19 · page 28 of 36
Judge — June 19, 1926 — page 28: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a **fake advertisement** satirizing the Orthophonic Victrola, an early phonograph brand. The cartoon depicts people recoiling in horror at the device's awful sound quality—guests mistaking the noise for "tin cans." The satire works through **mock praise**: the text hilariously insults the product while adopting advertising language. It claims the reproduction is so poor it will make listeners "firm believers in birth control" (suggesting the experience is torturous), and that even classical music sounds like jazz played on a tin roof. The punchline—"Ride him out of town on a rail" (a historical mob punishment)—suggests customers should drive the Sictrola dealer away violently. The closing tagline inverts the real Victrola slogan "His Master's Voice" to mock the brand further. This reflects **Judge's** tradition of irreverent consumer criticism, poking fun at emerging technology and advertising hype during the early 20th century.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“Fe thought tt was a bunch of tin cans!” You cannot believe your ears. Your eyes alone convince you it is the new Orthopunic Sictrola you are listening to. You hear the deep boiler-fac- tory cacophony of the bass, the shrill shrieking of the trebles. Every instrument sounds like a skeleton’s Charleston on a tin roof. Ortho- The New Orthopuntc AMERICAN CAN COMPANY, punic reproduction will make you a firm believer in birth control. The new Orthophunic Sictrola brings the élite of the nation’s boiler factories to your home. It makes even a classical symphony sound like jazz—if you don’t like jazz. If you do not own an Orthopunic “So’s His Old Master’s Voice.” 26 CAMDEN, Sictrola you are missing one of life's ordeals. There is a Sictrola dealer near you. Get up a demonstration. Ride him out of town on a rail. “Tf it isn’t an Orthopunic, it’s an improvement.” Sictrola N.J. comicbooks.com