Judge, 1928-01-14 · page 16 of 36
Judge — January 14, 1928 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This piece satirizes Jewish immigrant assimilation and social climbing in early 20th-century America. Uncle Abie Gitzenheimer, a Jewish watchmaker, is proud that his children have adopted glamorous stage names and exotic personas—becoming a movie star, orchestra leader, Arabian acrobat, German novelist, Spanish dancer, and Scandinavian performer, among others. The satire operates on multiple levels: it mocks both the immigrants' eagerness to shed their Jewish identities (renaming children from "Hermie, Hyman, Reba, Sarah" to "Pansy La Peach" and "Renée L'Aiglon") and the American entertainment industry's willingness to market these fabricated exoticized identities. Abie's sentimental speech about keeping "the old family name alive" through his successful children becomes ironic—they've abandoned it entirely. The lower cartoon about the magician making "the wrong pass" appears to be a separate, unrelated joke.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
JUDGE The boys are doing just as well, Besides Mickey there are Duke Kaleukilowkaukiaena, one of othe champion swimmers of Honolulu: Gaetano Gug ne. the famous orchestra leaders Achmed Sed Bey, the popular Arabian acrobat; ovich Koro- vich, the Montenegrin piano vir- tuoso, and John L. Smith, of Wall Street. They're good kids and deserve I remember ‘em when just Hermie, Hyman, . Reba, Sarah, Mose. Ikey. Esther, Rachel and Sam Gitzen heimer, “You're a lucky father,” I told old Abie. “Well, T ain't so much of a boaster.” he said. “But it gives a lot of pleasure for an old man to know that when he dies there is sons and daughters what will keep the old family name alive.” —Curr Jouxson Early to bed and early to rise, and your head—it will never feel three times its size. The Good Old Family Name I dropped into Unele Abie Gitzenheimer's place today to sce if my watch was all right. He was so excited over the success of his sons and daughters that he let me have another fiver. Old) man Gitzenheimer — cer- tainly has a good family. Pansy La Peach (the movie star, y'know), is the youngest girl. Then there is Mickey O'Mal ey, “The Fightin’ Irish Fool,” the youngest boy. The other girls also are mak ing big names for themselves: Renée L'Aiglon, known as * Frenel wind”; Bertha Von Gitzen, credited with being the most clever of the young German novelists: Carmelita Espinosa del Rey. the fi Spanish dancer. and Lena Swenser Jed as the Scandinavian Queen of the The magician who tried to pall one of his card tricks in a poker Follies.” game and made the wrong pass. comicbooks.com