Judge, 1928-01-28 · page 17 of 36
Judge — January 28, 1928 — page 17: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes early cinema melodrama. The main text narrates a thrilling silent-film scenario—a hero rescuing a girl from canyon rapids while a gunman fires shots from the bank. The joke appears in the caption: character "Harold Whoozis" (a generic movie-hero name) complains that the director keeps interrupting the dramatic scene with gunshot sound effects, breaking the cinematic tension. The satire targets 1920s film conventions: overwrought adventure plots, poor directorial choices, and the jarring transition to sound cinema (which was revolutionary then). The lower section lists "Famous Crimes," including modern annoyances like "Income Tax," "Radio," and "Moving Pictures"—treating cinema itself as a societal offense alongside Prohibition violations and financial burdens. The cartoons illustrate typical melodramatic movie scenes. The joke works because it mocks both cinema's inherent artificiality and audiences' tolerance for clumsy filmmaking.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
JUDGE Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! The sound echoed and re- echoed down the precipitous walls of the canyon. A man with disheveled hair carrying a girl in his arms was in the canoe that hurtled on toward the Rapids of Death. The three cracks came from the left bank of the rushing tor- rent, where a man in abroad sombrero stood beside a giant boulder watching the man and girl. He held something in’ his hand. Crack! Crack! Crack! n that sound rent the air and reverberated down the rocky gulch, She started. “What was that?” she cried. The man did not answer. On the very brink of the falls he caught the girl under one arm while with the other he grasped a vine, and hand over hand started to climb to the top of the cliff. ng tighter grip on the ne ascended more rapidly. They had just reached the top when—— Crack! Crack! Crack! Came that echo down the canyon. Harold Whoozis, the movie hero leaned over the beautiful girl and whispered, “I wish that darn director would cut out those ks right in the middle of —Cravve Crype Famous Crimes Prohibition. That seventh round at Chicago. Income Tax. Couvert. Ringside seats. Moving Pictures. Queen Mary’s Hat. Judge, Jr. Judgette. Abie’s Irish Rose. Down Payments. Radio. This kind of stuff. Lee TM comicbooks.com