Judge — March 31, 1928 — page 17: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This cartoon satirizes H. L. Mencken, a prominent American social critic and writer known for his caustic wit and intellectual rigor. The joke appears to reference his being "wrecked on a desert island with Eddie Guest"—likely Eddie Guest (also known as Edgar Guest), a popular poet of the era known for sentimental, accessible verse. The satire hinges on contrasting personalities: Mencken was famously contemptuous of middlebrow American culture, while Guest represented exactly that—wholesome, mainstream poetry. Being stranded together would constitute a "tragedy" for the intellectually acerbic Mencken, forced into isolation with someone representing everything he publicly despised. The cartoon's humor relies on readers' familiarity with Mencken's reputation for sardonic criticism and his cultural elitism.