Judge, 1927-12-17 · page 13 of 36
Judge — December 17, 1927 — page 13: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Judge Magazine: "High Hat" Column on Six-Day Bicycle Races This column satirizes the popularity of six-day bicycle races at Madison Square Garden, organized by promoter Tex Rickard ("Takes Us" Rickard). The author questions why crowds jam the venue for this Italian cycling event, speculating the fascination lies not in the sport itself but in the spectators—described as members of the "Royal Order of Owls," a reference to all-night social clubs where members famously refused to go to bed. The humor targets both the endurance sport and the nocturnal lifestyle it represents. The accompanying comic strip mockingly depicts the "least monstrous note" of the event, showing exhausted riders sleeping mid-race while paired together, sustained only on cognac and raw meat—absurdly exaggerating the race's grueling demands. A closing joke suggests replacing bicycles with kiddie cars, ridiculing the spectacle's inherent absurdity. The satire fundamentally questions why New Yorkers find entertainment in watching men deliberately deprive themselves of sleep for six consecutive days.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
WIG: This week we will take for our subject “Why is a six-day bicycle race?” . . . And now that we’ve started it we’re sorry we ever brought the matter up!... Well, why is it mobs of people will jam Madison Square Garden to see an Italian bicycle club on its annual tour? .. . Is it the genius of “Takes Us” Rickard or is there some kind of fascination in the sport itself? . . . I wish “Takes Us” would put on a knit- ting contest some time just to sce how much he himself has to do with it. He might pack the place! ff The only fascination I can dis- cover about it is, that after you’ve been kicked out of Olsen’s there’s some place to go besides home!... And there I think I’ve hit the nail on the thumb... . When you gaze around you at the spectators it’s plain to see that most of them are loyal members of ‘the Royal Order of Owls. . . . “I won’t go to bed!” is written all over their faces ... and when their determination weakens they have but to gaze down into the saucer track at the whirling example of fifteen men who won’t go to bed for six days! Ve After six in the morning is the best time . . . when the crowd has thinned out to about ten thousand and there’s nothing left but the “Die-hards,” the riders relax and take forty winks awheel . . . they ride in pairs with. their arms around each other's” shoulders, take a bite to eat (and‘there’s a- great idea for the commuter!), play harmonicas and accordions, and toss wise cracks back and forth . . . one team lives for the six days on nothing but cognac and raw meat! —p— Mac got the bright idea that next year we should enter the race and cut out the raw meat! . .and we're going to use kiddie cars instead of bikes! We went (Continued on page 31) ATE LEAST MonSTouowS NOE OF TE BLE Otte cas/ DNS LATE ——| COR te SnkT/ Ue WHE AE wii A ‘PEANUT WE KAEW J) WE WHOLE AIG | WAS A Pore (AHMAD SQ. GUROEX -! comicbooks.com