Judge, 1927-10-22 · page 17 of 36
Judge — October 22, 1927 — page 17: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a satirical advertisement/tour guide for **Hubert's Museum**, a real Times Square attraction. The cartoonist mocks both the museum's cheap attractions and the tourists who patronize it by presenting an exaggerated "barker's" pitch—the theatrical spieling used by carnival promoters. **Key targets of satire:** - **Hubert's Museum itself**: Positioned as a bargain-basement competitor to the Ziegfeld Follies (an upscale Broadway revue), offering absurd attractions—distorting mirrors, fortune tellers, trained fleas performing circus acts, musical movies, and shooting galleries. - **Comparison to legitimate entertainment**: The text repeatedly contrasts Hubert's penny attractions with legitimate theater prices, mocking the naive visitors who think they're getting theater value for a cent. - **Broadway stereotypes**: References to chorus girls as "gold-diggers," the "black bottom" dance, and performers like Bertha reinforce period racial and gender stereotypes while satirizing the show business world. The humor depends on recognizing Hubert's as a genuine Times Square odditorium—a low-cost, sensationalized attraction—and understanding the contrast with legitimate Broadway culture.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
: IAT Jump on the sight-seeing bus, Folks, and we'll take you through Hubert’s museum, the greatest show in New York for the money, and located right in the heart of this big. metropolis on none other than forty-two street right ad- jacent to Mr. Ziegfeld’s palace of glorification. =< Here you can see more for a cent than you can get at the Follies for five-fifty and for a dollar you can have a regular orgy ... all right, Z \ let’s go! . . . on the right, as we enter, we have the comical mir- rors! See yourselves in grotesque shapes, ladies and gentlemen! You look even funnier than you are, and mind you it doesn’t even cost a cent! And what have we here! Zurika the lady Py fortune - teller with the ath- x letic bosom! 4 Ale Rey mike every other chorus girl on Broadway at the black bottom of the list, and she throws in your fortune to boot all for the price of a copper, one hun- dreth part of a dollar! Here’s one little girl on the great white way, Folks, that isn’t a gold-digger! fh Lookit! Musical Movies! And what music and what movies and all for one-fifth of a nickel! You can see Bertha preparing for her nocturnal slumbers and listen to “Poor Papa,” all at the same time! ... why pay a dollar ten for the privelege of standing in Roxy’s lobby for an hour Gents, that puts QUNICR FINALLY IT VM ee - ie Guge/ “ANWATE when you can have a whole thea- ter to yourself! Just think! For what you pay at the Grand Cine- ma Terminal you can take in a hundred and ten of these shows! It staggers the imagination! Cs aad But you haven’t heard nothin’ yet! Trained Fleas! Yes, Sir! Trained Fleas! The Flea circus is the piece de résistance of Hubert’s show, and you mustn’t ana Avac!_auve % (ANGTHER Penny! miss it! The cunning little fel- lers do everything from playing golf to pull- ing a chariot! You don’t be- lieve it? All right, go and see for your- self! And Ladies! Here’s where you come in! The Shooting Gallery! i (Continued Fas on page 26) comicbooks.com