Judge, 1927-07-23 · page 13 of 36
Judge — July 23, 1927 — page 13: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "Retaliation" - Judge Magazine Satire This two-part page satirizes early 20th-century urban tourism and social exclusivity. **"Retaliation" (main poem with illustrations):** A farm family drives their Model T Ford into the city for a Sunday outing. The satire depicts their children as destructive vandals—chalking statues, breaking windows and streetlights, littering—essentially "retaliating" against the city for motorists and campers invading rural areas. The joke inverts typical rural-versus-urban class tensions: country folks are portrayed as uncouth destructionists, not innocent picnickers. **Top illustration:** Shows a cyclist being passed by the family car, labeled "Why Jonns never got a 'ticket'"—likely satirizing traffic enforcement or reckless driving. **Middle illustrations:** Reference classical beauty ("the face that launched a thousand ships"—Helen of Troy) versus a sunken ship, unclear without additional context but appears to mock changing beauty standards. **Bottom section:** A radio joke and a jab at "Venus Beach" establishments using narrow doorways to exclude overweight patrons—social satire about exclusionary leisure venues.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Retaliation On a pleasant Sunday morning, when all Nature crooned a ditty, Farmer Brown informed his fam- i Ve are driving to the city; Pack a heap of picnic vittles in the sturdiest of hampers And we'll leave the fields and meadows to the motorists and campers.” What a hustle—what a bustle— what a shrill soprano shouting As they gleefully make ready for this unexpected outing Father put the sportive flivver through preliminary paces As the children, now angelic, washed their grimy hands and faces— And at last the folks were ready and the luncheon kits were lugged off To the flivver, which, when cranked up, most astonishingly chugged off! Soon they reached the silent city and un 1 their full valises, While the youngsters chipped the curbstones and broke windows with the pieces. Down the broad expanse of Main Street saucy city sparrows twit- tered, For they'd never seen that thor- oughfare so peel and paper littered. Then the children chalked the statues of the city’s hallowed This is the face that launched —and this, the face that has founders , a thousand ships— sunk a thousand. And they smashed the lights bounders ! When the twilight tinged the sky light with a thousand different colors They imbibed the final soda, they consumed the broken crullers And their tummy aches said finis to a day of urban frolic And they left the littered city for their bailiwick bucolic. —Artuvr L, Liepmann S&S Host—Darn the luck! Last night I had Chicago on this radio and now I can’t get a thing! Caller—If you had Chicago, the set is probably all shot to Venus Beach builds up an eaclusive patronage by making entrance sylph like, eliminating those who are too broad to pieces. squeeze through. comicbooks.com