Judge, 1927-03-26 · page 13 of 36
Judge — March 26, 1927 — page 13: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Judge Magazine "High Hat" Column Analysis This is a social gossip column with accompanying cartoons about Manhattan's leisure class during the Jazz Age (likely 1920s). The writer describes artist Jeff Machamer's quirky obsession with crawling under tables—a humorous character sketch establishing him as eccentric. The main cartoon illustrates a "Mural Turpitudes" ball where Machamer sketched celebrities in "full costume" (meaning formal dress), with a visual gag showing a man's legs beneath a table. Named attendees include Henry Ford, Gene Tunney, and other prominent figures of the era. The column also describes two social games: a "Treasure Hunt" involving multiple houses and drinking, and a billboard-singing game where people spontaneously create songs from advertisement text (making "Kraft Cheese" or "Waltham watch" lyrics). A final verse laments Prohibition's effects—Arizona reader "Cactus Dick" nostalgically recalls when New York offered gin and cider, now illegal. The satire targets both Jazz Age excess and the impact of Prohibition laws.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
r LA Jeff Machamer, the boy artist and elocutionist, is getting unman- ageable no end for some strange reason he has developed an underworld complex ... he has a great yen for getting under- neath tables and when he onc there no coaxing will bring him out.... Ihave tried treating him with kindliness and have asked him point blank just what fun it was, but he doesn’t seem to know himself . . . he says the urge, or you might say suburge, comes upon him without warning and before he knows it there he is on his hands and knees wandering around between the table legs . . . all of which leads right up to the “Mac” was s pany me and make sketches of the festivities, but he hadn’t been there a half hour be- fore he had disap- peared ... he has a great idea, though ... he wants the next ball to be held in a ball room filled with tables with legs long enough to dane der . . . anyway the ball was a huge sue- cess and Don Dick- erman’s “Mural Tur- pitudes” were knock- outs the little sketch below will give you a rough idea of the numbers of celebrities there in “full” costume . ng from left to right, or if you prefer from right to left, or any you wish you will find — maybe — Otto Kahn, Jr., George Olsen, Henry Ford, Dean Cornwall, Ruth East- man, Tony Sarg, Gene Tunney, Wallace Morgan, Sir Walter Enright, Jefferson Machamer, Frankie Godwin, McClellan Bar- + Tes clay, P. Leo Crosby, and lots of others . . . the one sitting up is yours truly! pf C. Jackson Shuttleworth, the — he Macl— C'M OUT FUMMYNA A lad who discovered Lou Richman, has also discovered a new ure Hunt”... the ide cight or ten couples with the same number of houses, or apartments ... the game starts with the en- tire crowd at House No. 1 and progresses through to House No. “Treas- WATE 10, with libations at each the couple, or couples, arriving up- right at House No. 10 get the “treasure”... summing it up, the whole idea smacks of an endur- ance contest! — Have also done a little dis- covering myself... a new game that is fun no end and will while away many innocent moments . .. it is a singing game and the idea is to pick, say a billboard, or something with names on it, and make a song out of it... ample, you s board adverti: Kraft Cheese . begin singing, “F (point to the word “WAT TALE 'N / cheese’) a jolly good MAKE a [i fello or suppose it’s a Waltham watch ad... you begin singing “ I want someone to (point to the word ‘watch’) over me” . . . get the idea? —f— “Cactus from C Dick,” Grande, Arizona, and form- erly of New York sends in a very Ss ed verse: Yeast side, Wets side, all around the town, The boys can drink ’til rosy, London gin is coming down; Boy and girl North ciders pulling many a cork, Can hip the tight fantastic on the souse side of New York! The old pl has changed, Dick! . . . there’s no cider in the town any more! (Continued on page 29) comicbooks.com