Judge, 1927-04-02 · page 10 of 36
Judge — April 2, 1927 — page 10: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Explanation for Modern Readers This Judge page contains two separate pieces of satire from the 1920s era. **"McNoodle (A.D. 2027)"** depicts a futuristic woman, apparently transformed by evolution. The joke plays on anxieties about women's changing roles—the caption "Funny about the evolution of woman, wasn't it?" suggests bemused commentary on how women had become more independent and visible in public life following suffrage (1920). **"Folks Avoid Me"** is a humorous monologue by a ten-ton truck driver explaining why pedestrians fearfully scatter around him. The satire mocks the rapid motorization of American life and the new dangers trucks posed to street life—the irony being that an "inoffensive" person becomes terrifying simply because of the vehicle he drives. **"Spring!"** is a lighthearted poem celebrating springtime activities—from spring cleaning to baseball to courting—with no particular political bite. The bottom cartoon, "The ultimate evolution of the pedestrian," visually reinforces the truck joke: it shows pedestrians reduced to tiny figures dwarfed by automobiles, satirizing how cars were literally displacing people from urban streets.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
JUDGE McNoopte (A. D. 2027)—Funny about the evolution of woman, wasn’t it? Folks Avoid Me I am only a small runt of a chap, inoffensive and, by nature, very retiring, but you should see the way folks dodge me. It’s really laughable to see them, as the trive to escape contact with I nd I am not at all ferocious of appearance, either. Coming un- expectedly upon me, it is most amusing to see their sudden con- sternation and their equally sud- den stop. You would think that I was some notorious killer, or a traffic cop. Oh, well! I don’t mind it. Their desire to leave me severely to myself permits me to go my way absolutely undisturbed, and I ama great lover of peace. I can readily understand their great fear of an encounter with me, for you see, I drive a ten-ton truck. Spring! Calomel, mustard bath, sulphur and molasses time, Season known as vernal that’s infernal in its urge; Heifers’ time zeph mounting of Pegassus time For the bard who labors hard to catch the cosmic surge. Quinine time, tonic time, time to patch your liver up— Hark! The feathered songsters now in chorused rapture sing. Time to paint the bungalow and fix the family flivver up— Spring! Wooing time, cooing time, late- lamented brewing time; Sally in her alley now exclaims “Ain't Nature Grand?” Baseball bleachers’ booing time, tennis and canoeing time, Lazy loafing fever epidemic in the land. Golfers’ gay convening time, gamboling, growing, green- ing time— Pan the piping pagan rules the universe as king; time, Mop and vacuum cleaning time, painting, primping, preening time— Spring! —Manion Burns The ultimate evolution of the pedestrian. weg comicbooks.com