Judge, 1927-01-01 · page 12 of 36
Judge — January 1, 1927 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "Outside Looking In" by Arthur L. Lippmann This 1927 satirical poem personifies the incoming year as a young figure ("'27") surveying American society with dismay. The satire catalogs social ills and frivolities of the era: corrupt officials, Prohibition-era drinking, sexual scandals, racial violence (lynchings, KKK activity), tabloid culture, and jazz-age excess. References include "Dagos" and ethnic slurs reflecting 1920s prejudices, "Klansmen," and prohibition violations. The poem mocks both serious problems (racial riots, corruption) and trivial concerns (bridge-playing mothers, comic strips) with equal cynicism. The young year complains the world is "awful" and wants to return "to my former abode" (pre-existence), but the Old Year insists he must "shoulder your load"—accept the burden of 1927. The drawing shows the personified year as a tearful child witnessing humanity's flaws. The satire suggests 1920s optimism masked widespread social dysfunction and moral decline.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
ps OUTSIDE LOOKING IN by Arthur L. Lippmann Vi y ¢ Down from that wee little corner of heaven That cradles the years that have not yet been born, Satchel in hand, came the young ’27, And gazed at the world with a visage forlorn. } The evening was chilly, the night wind was raw, He looked the world over and here’s what he saw: Fake taxi-meters and brutal wife-beaters and cops, half asleep, not performing their duties; Gold-digging beauties and henna-haired cuties; Flappers in slickers and freshmen in knickers imbibing decidedly dangerous liquors; Lynchings and pinchings and wild racial riots; fat dames and flat dames existing on diets; Unhappy farmers and view-with-alarmers and grandpas of sixty who still think they're charmers; Kids killing parents with pitchforks and axes, Congressmen raising constitutents’ taxes, Giddy old world spinning round on its axis, Nordics pursuing the Sambos and Mazes; Dagos in black shirts and Percys in white shirts and red-blooded Klansmen parading in nightshirts; Sweet sugar daddies in rich turtle dove nests; tabloid pictorials featuring love nest Go-getting guys peddling Florida villas; supper club pirates and hat-check gorill Radio screechers and photoplay features and court-rooms revealing the love-lives of preachers; Taxis in purples and crimsons and yellows—hundred percenters and regular fellows; Dukes—and the debutantes hoping to land then— | Husbands whose wives really don’t understand them; High-hatting highbrows in Oscar Wilde poses Bridge-playing mothers and comic-strip kiddies ema ingenues romping in middies; Hearst editorials, humorous writers, ugly memorials, hatred igniters, Useless statistics, asthmatic Victrolas, faddists and mystics and sick pianolas; Etiquette courses and framed-up divorces and bimbos who give you wrong tips on the horses; Hearty back-slappers, professional grinners, middle-aged flappers and table d’hote dinners; Verses like these and the nit-wits who write ’em, Mum belles and dumb belles and ad infinitum! Pat and Mike stories and Abes’ Irish Roses; “Gosh, but it’s awful,” complained 27, “I'm going right back to my former abode.” “Nay,” said the Old Year, ‘tis half-past eleven; “Prepare, little stranger, to shoulder your load.” The blue little, new little year shed a tear | And hung up his hat on a peg of the sphere. comicbooks.com