Judge, 1927-12-10 · page 18 of 36
Judge — December 10, 1927 — page 18: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a satirical song from Judge magazine (America's premier humor publication) about Prohibition-era social hypocrisy. The narrative contrasts a wealthy, well-dressed man's indignation at being "shamed" by a hungry street child with the actual moral failing: his own callousness toward poverty. The illustration shows the beggar child on a busy street during the holidays. The song's irony is sharp: the affluent man claims offense at being "pushed" by this desperate waif, yet he and the passing crowd ignore her starvation. His dramatic response—swearing to give the child his "hon-ored name"—appears to mock the performative morality of the wealthy, who prioritize wounded pride over actual charity. The title references bootleggers (illegal alcohol producers during Prohibition), suggesting the man's wealth may derive from illicit sources, adding another layer of hypocrisy to his moral posturing.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
JUDGE THE BOOTLEGGER’S CHILD UKULELE.IN D TUNING bi ff é d wr 0p - F: (oe == a « ; & ct f e G Twas on a bu-sy _ tho-rough-fare, the ho ~ li- days were nigh. The The cop-pers sim-ple plea-ding reached the heed-less crowd at last.“Here’s Csi ihi cas MR AMcaAOc as Raadt aa AR SSS lr streets were in a turmult with pros-per-ous pas-sers by, Beneath a cor-ner lamp-post;there mon - ey! Here!“the coins on. the side-walk tink-led fast*Not so!’the man who thoughtless, had es OR sf sa) stood in mute ap-peal,A rag-ged waif whose hun-gry eyes would melt “ a heart of steel. Yet done the push-ing cried" am a mil-lion-cire and you have shamed me in my pride! From i fig fA AR fF fe HR | = ' no one no-ticed her-each trod up-on his sel-fish path.One e-venthrust her sa-vage-ly out hence-forth on 1 swear this babe will bear my hon-ored name!And gent-ly he re-moved his spats and Words ond Music 5 H.W. HANEMANN comicbooks.com