Judge, 1927-01-08 · page 16 of 36
Judge — January 8, 1927 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a "Judge" column where the editor responds to reader letters and comments on contemporary topics. The main content includes: **The Auto Show Review**: The editor sarcastically reviews the automobile exhibition, praising Cadillac and Lincoln while dismissing most performances as inferior to previous years. **Literary Commentary**: References to George Jean Nathan (a famous theater critic of the era) and books about him, plus Maxwell Bodenheim's "Ninth Avenue," which the editor dismisses as trivial. **Reader Letters**: Three complaints are published—one from a Radcliffe student protesting a forward Harvard man from the "High Hat Club" who made inappropriate remarks about her Phi Beta Kappa key; another from a Dallas woman wanting women admitted to the High Hat Club. **The Cartoon**: Shows a car full of rowdy passengers, likely satirizing the reckless behavior enabled by automobiles and Prohibition-era excess (the mention of "ex-barkeeps" as drivers is relevant here). The humor relies on insider references to Boston/Cambridge society, literary circles, and automobile culture of the 1920s.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
A This being a number devoted to automotive vehicles I dutifully took in the Auto Show and, knowing that George Jean would feel above re- viewing it, especially since he’s had a book published all about him, I will tell all you little readers about it. fo The opening was a gala affair and reminded me much of the night Duse appeared in “Hangman’s House” at the Berliner Austerhouse Gaschlump - all the precious little critics applauded lustily but to my mind the performance was a piece of tripe and no better than last year. Cadillac gave its usual good performance and Lincoln was adequate. pf One car that I noticed particu- larly (yes, you would!) had a com- plete bar in it!. . . of course with this equipment you have to have a com- bination chauffeur and bartender, but that ought to be easy as most of the drivers to-day are ex-barkeeps. name of the car because I know it wouldn’t do me a bit of good! Read two books last week—“The Theater of George Jean Nathan” and “Ninth Avenue” It’s difficult to review a book about a man you know as that makes it doubly in- teresting. I never knew before what a famous man George was (Ah, there, George!), and was surprised to learn that he discovered Eugene “Ninth Avenue” by Maxwell Bodenheim struck me as a lot of hooey and is just another one should have said “griping!” Ce eed Received a very nice Christmas present from Mrs. Haessler, of Porto Rico . . a miniature still made of glass and the darn little thing works too! Thank you too, Mrs. H.! Another knock! Jr.: I am an eighteen-year-old girl, a student at Radcliffe. I want to protest in your magazine against a forward Harvard gentleman (?) who accosted me the other day. That he was a member of your silly High Hat Club is certain, as he was just the sort of a person who would call gin Gordon Water. He pointed at my Phi Beta Kappa key, of which I am justly and deservedly proud, and said in an alcoholic voice, ‘Prudence, I see that you are all keyed up over something!’ ” herself A. B.! “To Judge, the lady signed —p— Little Melba Whidden, of Dallas, Tex., is sore no end... . she writes as follows: “Listen here, I want you to know that I’m just as High Hat as anyone else! You might as well make up your mind to take on the fair sex as members of that High Hat Club of yours!” what you ask is impossible, Melba, this is a he-man’s club, but you might take the matter up with Judgette and get her to get up a club wouldn't that be the cat’s! comicbooks.com