Judge, 1927-03-12 · page 9 of 36
Judge — March 12, 1927 — page 9: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "New Ray Discovered" – Judge Magazine Satire This page satirizes both marital discord and the era's obsession with technological progress. The main cartoon depicts an "Anti-talk Ray" invented by Phineas P. Phobb that silences sound—with the explicit punchline that it will benefit "married men" by allowing them to escape their wives' voices. The humor relies on a stereotypical complaint about nagging spouses. The accompanying article "A Short History of Speed" mocks the accelerating pace of invention, culminating in absurdist irony: future transportation will be *slower* than walking. "A New Invention in the Automotive Industry" describes Professor Slithers's ridiculous contraption—originally designed to hollow out Eskimo pies, then salvaged into nonsensical components (Ford cylinders, sail cloth, musical saw) that ended up as flowerpot covers in a laundry business. The satire targets both domestic tensions and the era's blind faith in "progress," suggesting inventors pursue novelty without practical purpose.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
POPULAR MECHANICS NUMBER OF JUDGE NEW RAY DISCOVERED Phineas P. Phobb, of Yonkers, claims to have discovered a new Anti-talk Ray which catches sound in mid-air and throws it off ata tangent. Mr. Phobb states that, by the use of the ray, he has stood close to a running phonograph and never heard a sound. This will undoubtedly be a great boon to married men A SHORT HISTORY OF SPEED In the beginning man walked. By judicious training he developed members of the race who could de- liver messages in reasonably short time by running in relays. Then he invented horse motion, One day somebody perfected the locomotive—good for twenty miles an hour. Later some other wizard invented the automobile—now good for over a hundred M. P. H. Still later came the airplane. five miles a minute with that! And so most any day now we ex- pect to hear of some mechanical wizard who will invent some sort of conveyance which will take a man from one point of the city to another at least half as fast as he could wall it. We have faith in science. —Parke CumMincs loco- Over Safety device for city dwellers who must pass under so much construction work x § A NEW INVENTION IN THE AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY The ingenious device pictured on the cover of this issue was invented by Professor J. Oswald Slithers, whose original idea w machine for taking the insides out of Esquimo pies. Vor this he used a square piece of sail cloth, two Ford cylinders, and a musical saw. In time, however, the professor discoy- ered that his invention was a failure and in a fit of rage tore his machine to pieces. He gave the sail cloth to an old friend of the family, covered the two cylinders with crépe paper and sold them for geranium pots, a keeping only the musical sa handful of buttons went laundry business at Coral Florida. Three years later, Professor (Continued on page 23) to make a into the Gables, comicbooks.com