Judge, 1927-09-03 · page 16 of 36
Judge — September 3, 1927 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This humorous article satirizes the obsessive culture of horse racing and gambling at Saratoga Springs, a upscale New York resort town. The narrator and his friend "Mac" visit for health reasons but become consumed by betting on racehorses. The joke's progression: they pick a horse named "Nimba" that appears doomed (develops health problems, other horses avoid it), yet they manage to change their bet just before it unexpectedly wins the fourth race. The satire mocks how gambling fever overtakes visitors to fashionable resorts, contradicting the stated health-focused purpose of their visit. The ironic title "High Hat" (meaning pretentious/snobbish) suggests the pretense that Saratoga visitors maintain—claiming refined leisure while actually obsessing over betting odds. The B.V.D.'s reference is to men's underwear, used for comedic effect regarding their "renewed vigor."
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
JUDGE WIG. Saratoga Springs is just north of Albany . noted for its mineral waters and is a great health resort. After spend- ing two situated .. it is days Wak IR Rie A “FAVOR le I A y there, Mac returned ing fac gling w of renewed vigor . the glowing came from wearing nothing but B. V. D.’s and the re- newed vigor was the result of the long walk home! hh NICE LUMP OF ( Mac Sar ai, tus Le "NE HEARD ‘NMBA WAP LAME — WE AREUWDE | Boy, we certainly with luck! . . . every horse we picked developed fallen and halitosis—he never kn “* and all the other horses avoided him. . . . I even tried holding out a lump of sugar for them and Mae made faces but it did no good . . . we only picked one winner were shot arches a “TE DokiE OG CHANGE OUR BETO #ROM HER ANGTHER HoRPE — NIMBA “LIMPED” I Ae in two days and this is what happened after a long conference in the paddock In this healthy little village there is a nice big race track around which horses here the seeker after health n stagnant blood pressure by wagering on which steed will come in first . . the better it is ter gayly and stimulate his . the unluckier he is for his blood pres re.... Mac and I increased ours in two days from 56 to 890! we put our roll on a_ vicious looking baby called “ Nimba” and gave our bookie the cus- tomary slips... we had no sooner done this than we overheard a jockey whisper to end that Nimba was lame! ... rushing madly around finally collared our ed bookie and changed our bet just as the bugle blew . . . you may have read in the daily papers—if you are one of these racing fans— that Nimba won the fourth race at Saratoga! (Continued on page 29) comicbooks.com