Judge, 1927-06-11 · page 20 of 36
Judge — June 11, 1927 — page 20: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**Top Cartoon**: A domestic scene satirizing class and gender dynamics. A householder (likely middle-class) confronts a police officer about a disturbance caused by the householder's wife aggressively throwing out his old pants during house cleaning. The joke mocks both marital discord and wasteful domestic management—the wife discarding useful items without permission. **"The Pearl of Great Price" Story**: A narrative about jeweler Oscar Whipple who kills his acquaintance Hal Smith. Smith had repeatedly pranked Whipple (a car accident, public embarrassment), but lured him away with promises of finding a valuable pearl in the Passaic River. The story appears to be building toward revealing Smith's death was either accidental (during the pearl search) or justified revenge for the pranks. This is satirical fiction playing with crime narrative conventions. **Radio Advertisement Anecdote**: A brief joke contrasting radio entertainment with old street cars, using a farmer's story about a loose pig to suggest radio entertainment (like Tintoretto paintings) is overpraised. The page reflects early-to-mid 20th century American humor priorities: domestic conflict, practical jokes, crime melodrama, and technological change.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
JUDGE Cop—Hey, wotsa matter? Hov and I was in ’em! The Pearl of Great Price I found Oscar Whipple in his private office examining a tray of matched pearls. He glanced up at me, screwed the jeweler’s glass out of his eye and asked me to sit down. “You gave me quite a start,” he confessed. “I thought perhaps you were a policeman.” “A policeman!” I exclaimed. “What's happened, someone rob your jewelry store?” “Worse than that,” he replied. I've just killed a man.” “Well, if you really have,” I told him, “I hope it was Hal Smith.” “That's who it was,” said Oscar. “I'll tell you about it— At ten-thirty this morning Hal called me on the phone, said he wanted to see me right away, and would I drive over to his house. I told him my car was being repaired and that I had a nasty headache. He insisted that it very important and, against ovper—M’ wife’s house cleaning. NOW: THATS ‘WHAT.L CALE A SWELL PITCHER 'LAUDED TINTORETTO: FERVENTLY. No, sir, the radio will never replace the old horse-cars. Here’s a story that shows why: “Hey, Farmer Brown!” called a neighbor of his. “Is that yo’ piece of pork down the road?” “What yo’ all mean?” queried Farmer Brown. “One of my hawgs is out thar?” “Yes,” replied the first speaker, “but a guy ina motorcycle just went by!” A_ mischievous fellow, indeed! She threw out an old pair o’ my pants my better judgment, consented and foot.” “T'll bet it was another of his practical jokes,” I cut in. “Wait,” said Oscar. ‘Three blocks from Smith’s house a Ford sedan bumped into me, tore my trousers and skinned the side of my nose. My head ached worse than ever and when that Smith idiot saw me, all he could do was laugh. “T tell you I was good and sore, but pretty soon he stopped laughing and asked me if I had ever heard of a pearl being found ic River. I told him nest pearl ever found in had come from those and added that if he had over to his house I finally started out on we called me way to find that out, I would punch his nose. “Then he told me that if I’d follow him to a certain spot on the bank of the he would show me the largest pearl in the country. 18 comicbooks.com