Judge, 1926-07-31 · page 23 of 36
Judge — July 31, 1926 — page 23: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two separate pieces of satire: **Main Story ("Judge"):** A lengthy comic narrative mocking Jewish immigrants and their romantic prospects. "Riffke Lifkowitz," a Yiddish-named character, attempts to win a hidden beauty through increasingly absurd trials (fighting dogs, singing Russian songs). Upon finally meeting the "prize," he discovers it's an unattractive woman and jumps out a window. He's then pursued by a dog catcher's family across Africa, eventually captured and forced into marriage—with the ending suggesting he and his bride have become literally dog-like (producing "barking babies," living in a pound). The satire employs crude ethnic stereotyping common to early 20th-century American humor, treating Jewish immigrants and their courtship customs as objects of ridicule. **Bottom Cartoon:** An unrelated Irish domestic joke about a husband refusing to diet, valuing life's pleasures over longevity—a gentler form of ethnic humor targeting Irish-American working-class attitudes.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
JUDGE Then came the thousand and first candidate—Riffke Lifkowitz, the in- trepid Yiddish explorer, fresh from his triumphs in the jungles of Africa— to hack his way to the hand of the hidden beauty. Riffke took the first gate, the second and the third gate, and at the fourth gate he sur- prised the first wolfhound by biting it first; the second wolfhound he hypnotized, and the other six wolf- hounds he rendered tender-hearted and homesick by singing them a song of old Russia. Then kicking hounds and mongrels, mastiffs and terriers, with short savage kicks to the right and left of him, Riffke Lifkow 1- vanced triumphantly into the heart of the castle. “IT have come for my prize,” he demanded of a doggy looking lady, who sat in a rocker in the the room: “Where is she The lady stretched out her arms. “Welcome, my hero. I am the prize!” But the intrepid obstacle-over- comer took one good look. “Verily,” he I har stumbled upon a hidden beauty And without stopping to raise the window, he jumped out through it. PART II Little remains to be told. Immediately her — (so-to-speak) lover had gone, the dog catcher’s daughter and the dog catcher father, whistling into action their best blood- hounds, set out in hot pursuit of the elected bachelor. corner of cried. Dentist (coming to the rescue)—By the way, that last molar on the lower left-hand side is badly in need of attention “He is a brave man,” cried papa, as he initiated the chase: “A valorous fellow of his caliber must be pursued till he is made one of us—if need be to the end of the world!” “To the end of the world!” echoed the sad, dog-faced daughter. A year later, pursuing the speedy Riffke through a jungle of Africa, their persevering bloodhounds finally got him—by the slack of the trousers. “When my wife sets out to reduce she reduces!” “My hero!” cried the — dog catcher’s daughter, running up to embrace the embarrassed — (so-to- “T have come all this way to tell you that I accept your proposal of marriage!” : “Bow-bow,” said the cowed fiancé, too tired to put up argument. And so, after trekking back with papa to civilization, they were form- ally betrothed. ‘And they attended the dog catcher’s ball, which was given in their honor. And they were married in’ the pound. And they spent their week end at the Bide-a-Wee Home, and_ their honeymoon in the Island of Skye where the terriers come from. And in due time, they had a large family, consisting successively eight barking babies. Cyril B. Egan speak) suitor. sae Doctor—Your husband’s not so well to-day, Mrs. Maloney. Is he sticking to the simple diet I pre- scribed? Mrs. M.—He is not, sorr. He says he'll not be after starvin’ himself to death just for the sake of livin’ a few years longer! —Belfast News-Letter comicbooks.com