Judge, 1927-06-18 · page 30 of 36
Judge — June 18, 1927 — page 30: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page is primarily **advertising**, not satire. The left side promotes a Jack London two-volume book set for one dollar, marketed as entertainment for tedious travel situations (train delays, rainy days). The pitch emphasizes how stories provide "life and color and drama." The right side contains theatrical criticism titled "Judging the Shows," discussing recent Gilbert and Sullivan opera revivals ("Patience" and "Ruddigore"). The critic argues these productions poorly execute the composers' work—singers perform mechanically (as if with "chewing gum under their tongues"), and casting choices are questionable. He contrasts modern productions unfavorably with beer-garden versions from decades past. Two small captioned cartoons appear: one features dialogue about an "addict" (unclear context), and another depicts a London balloon vendor and customer haggling over change—typical working-class London humor of the period. The page reflects early 20th-century entertainment criticism and advertising conventions.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
| t The Dull Ones— The long train ride up in the mountains on the jerk- water railroad —the three- hour wait when you miss con- nections—the rainy afternoons when you hate to think of golf —it is in these dull moments that you crave a book. For the summer months we make you this special offer of a two-volume set of Jack London stories that will put life and color and drama into any dull moment! They include: Tales of the Fish Patrol The House of Pride The Call of the Wild The Scarlet Plague and fifteen more of his greatest stories. Two gold-embossed splen- didly printed books to stick in your bag. Sent to you post- paid for one dollar. Send us this coupon and a dollar today. ~~ ee cece ne neeesaseenennnay, | HAWKINS PUBLISHING CO., 1 627 West 43rd Street, New York, N. Y. Here is a dollar. Send the tw volumes of Jack London postpaid to: “T don’t like the look o’ that there ’addi “Well, if it’s looks yer arter, why don’t yer buy goldfish?” Judging the Shows (Continued from page 18) livan trick must be, and now we find two of them getting burned. After all, it takes a deal more skill to stage Gilbert and Sullivan than it does to put on the various Tin Pan Alley operas, and this the two gents in question have learned to their chagrin. For the revivals they h sponsored get less of Sullivan’s music out of “Patience” than a second-hand phonograph record and less of Cilbert’s humor out of “Ruddi- gore” than a movie version might. Both revivals remind one of those that used to be made, many ye ago, in the bee the Middle W. the honor to state, I was a regular and profitable customer. In the tors and scenery, all that “Ruddigore” and need to put me mel- lifluously back twenty-five years are a couple of dozen Seidel of Anheuser-Busch, with maybe eight or ten steins of Pabst’s as cl The casting of the vaudeville clown, James Watts, as Bunthorne was a stroke of genius as unmistakable as would be the casting of William Gillette for Topsy. And the casting of the role of the beautiful village maiden in “Ruddigore” with the woman who presently occupies it —that old Virginia chivalry again prevents me from naming names —might be legitimately expected from a producer who would cast Margaret Anglin as Lorelei Lee. o —Garety I don't like to take JupGe’s money for platitudes, but I must remark once again that Gilbert’s lyrics are not best to be retailed by actors who sing as if wads of chewing gum were lodged securely under their tongues. I don’t go so far as to say that certain of the voe: these productions had wads of chewing gum under their tongues—for all I know, it may have been chewing tobacco or perhaps only lime drops—but, Battoon Venpvor — ’Ere, mate, you'll ’ave ter give me back that bob’s worth 0’ cop- pers I changed yer. —Lonpon Opinion comicbooks.com