Judge, 1926-12-25 · page 10 of 38
Judge — December 25, 1926 — page 10: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Judge Magazine Commentary Analysis This is a satirical column by Judge's editor commenting on New York's cultural scene. The main targets include: **The Author's League Benefit Show**: A satirical account of celebrity culture, naming real entertainers (George Gershwin, Jack Donahue, Ben Bernie) who performed at this society event. The humor mocks how wealthy literati celebrate themselves while producing mass-market content. **Generational critique**: References Sam Adams's novel "Revelry" (about Jazz Age excess), satirizing how young people have become cynical—learning Santa isn't real and that money/power matter more than ideals. This critiques post-WWI disillusionment. **Prohibition**: The column defends criticism of the Eighteenth Amendment (Prohibition), with a reader named Mary Nostrand objecting to the editor's stance on alcohol. **Literary pretension**: A Harvard-educated critic attacks the editor for imitating *The New Yorker* magazine—suggesting rivalry between elite publications. The tone is self-aware and gossipy, typical of Judge's highbrow satire targeting urban literary and entertainment establishments.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Se JUDGE IMIG IH The Annual Author’s League Bene- fit Show and Ball at the Roosevelt scenerere fifteen hundred, count ’em, celebrities in one room!..... the manufacturers of Art and Literature who turn out fifty thousand tons of material daily for the consumption of the public... .. and they make fun of the Rota- of them worth driving twenty miles through a snow storm to hear... . . George Gershwin himself in person at the piano playing “Rhapsody in Blue” . ++. sounded a little flat though without an orches- tration .....Jack Donahue, the funniest guy on the 1 stage, told about the man who was so fastidious that he put trees in his socks, and several other stories .... the hit of the show was Donahue, Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby as the “Beau Brummels of Broadway” .... they were so funny the celebrities forgot and stop- ped bowing to each other ....and last but not least, Ben Bernie and his orches- tra... . and speaking of hidden beauties, a tall red- haired girl in a pale green gown .... “Mac” made a sketch of her... . striking no end.... . the girl—not the sketch ..... a pleasant evening. oo No wonder the younger generation is hard-boiled and cynical . . . . their illusions are discarded along with their rompers, they know before they are five that Santa Claus is a lot of apple sauce, they have stepfathers and mothers instead of parents, they learn that money is the only God that is wor- shiped and that = / Presidents are “A people .... all of - /\ \ which leads up to ( ( Sam Adam’s book “Revelry” 2... how he gets away with it is beyond me... . he thumbs his nose at Washington and says, “If this be treason, make the most of it!” .... at any rate it’s a mighty [WA T= interesting book and by the time this is printed will probably be a sensa- tion. ss I seem to be serious no end this week . .. . maybe it’s because I’ve been getting so many knocks lately! .... it worries me, no kidding .. . . am I getting too stuck up or going stale or what?.... there! I left the door wide open! .... for example Mary Nostrand, of Paterson, is tickled to death because some one else disapproves of me and thinks T’ve got an awful nerve encouraging people to break the Eighteenth Amendment and a guy named Cam- \A 39> F SS = OVERHEARD A LADY AQK JUDGE, JR. WHAT THE MILK - || MEN WERE NEARING I tf “THESE MORNINGS J bridge, from Harvard, says I read the New Yorker too much and that I’m trying to imitate them! ... .and he goes on to say that if I had one more brain I'd be a half-wit .... Well in the first place I don’t read the New Yorker—I leave that to the out-of- towners and I don’t lay any claims to brains—I leave that to the Cam- bridge men and I’m not trying to encourage anyone to break the law so I won’t print any recipes this week because—I haven’t any more space! comicbooks.com