Judge, 1927-12-31 · page 18 of 37
Judge — December 31, 1927 — page 18: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page features a song titled "Before You Ask Me to Believe You Love Me" by H.W. Hanemann, presented as sheet music with accompanying illustration and lyrics. The content satirizes early 20th-century courtship rituals and male manipulation. The scene depicts a young couple on an upholstered sofa while Cupid hovers above—a common romantic trope. The song's lyrics reveal the girl's wariness: a young man ("Jack") pressures her to listen to his declarations of love, but she skeptically warns him to prove his sincerity first. The satire targets the disconnect between romantic ideology and actual male behavior—the girl's repeated refrain "Before you ask me to believe you love me" suggests men routinely made insincere declarations. The ukulele instruction detail at top reflects the 1920s-30s fad for this instrument as accompaniment to popular songs. The decorative art-deco border featuring cherubs, soft furnishings, and fruit reinforces the magazine's humorous, aspirational advertising tone typical of *Judge*.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
UKULELE | 2 TUNING Al IRST FRET ih a ——sa a : = Ona up-hol-stered so-fa, se of the young-er-set sit, while Se ee Cu-pid, gen-tle ras-cal, ho-vers nigh; Yet SS can it be per-haps the girl re- grets 4 How RR ia EES ee oth-er-wise the mean- nf of her sigh? Soh === = Jack!” she says, ‘as well you know n young and in-no-cent, Just FR fi = list-en then to what | say, ere fur-ther we have went becca) ul i ER i = Be-fore you ask me to be-lieve you love me, Please Words ond Musie ry H.W. HANEMANN comicbooks.com