Judge, 1927-06-04 · page 18 of 36
Judge — June 4, 1927 — page 18: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a humorous first-person account of visiting a Turkish bath, written as satire of Judge magazine's "Turkish Number" theme. The author describes comically exaggerated experiences: aggressive masseurs (named "Mac" and apparently a wrestler named Zybysko), getting thrown into pools, being blasted by water cannons at sunrise, and ending up arrested for indecent exposure on 47th Street. The humor relies on physical comedy and ethnic caricature typical of 1920s-era American magazines—the "curious native tongue" dialogue and stereotyped depictions of Turkish workers. The cartoons illustrate slapstick mishaps: a man in a giant Turkish bath vessel, someone tangled in what appears bathing equipment, and a figure being launched into the air. The satire targets both Turkish bathing culture and the magazine's editorial decision to dedicate an issue to "Turkish" themes. The final joke—that the only genuine benefit is "the alcohol rub"—mocks Prohibition-era America by suggesting visitors valued the rubdown's alcohol content.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
WA Have you ever, have, been to a Turkish bath? Having been informed by ye Ed. who, it would m, has Moham- medan_ in- clinations, that this was to be ye Turkish Number, I de- cided to be a real live — or- 40'S 3 ganization man wie JRA and cover FR HO KH something i eat Turkish. “Well, well,” you might yell; “you could sleep on a Turkish rug—that would be covering something Turkish,” ... but I’m sorry I ever brought the matter YE wee 4 OT PREMARRE Wit Hie ae “PLUNGE! up. ... Anyway, as the old saying goes, I got hold of “Mac” a and, as you can readily the delightful sketch nating this page, the da up like thunde a curious compl . one is old Fireman’s hats and the other is that whatever he does of an eve ning he thinks the next morning that I did it! ... Hence, the libelous pictures! a Turks in these Turkish iums are very quaint and a curious native tongue, as “Hey! whazzieyedear! Goininna perl withyer clozon!” and “Dey aintny fish innat perl yusap!”.. . the last remark struck me very funny because, when he said it, the as “Mac” floating peacefully in the afore- said perl! I think all C the — rubbers A in the bath we visited were ex- wrestling champions, and I know the bird that worked on me was Zybysko . .. he threw me around so hard that once I slipped right out of his hands and landed in the pool, pardon me, I mean perl . . . and do you see the picture at the bot- tom of this page? . Well, go- ing over the top is like a confetti party compared to these Turkish They turned them both on “Mac” and \, when they found him again he was away out on 47th Street and being arrested for in- decent exposure .. . the bird that invented that contraption must have been responsible for those famous lines, “and when it comes to slaughter you'll do your work on water!” However, there’s one darn nice thing about a Turkish bath and that’s the alcohol rub! Sut 4r CwWRIGE / ithiaihatiat. comicbooks.com