Judge, 1928-04-28 · page 8 of 36
Judge — April 28, 1928 — page 8: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "Act Your Age!" – Social Commentary on Arrested Development This 1920s Judge cartoon by Norman Anthony satirizes how modern adults have failed to mature emotionally alongside their intellectual growth. The setup: two married couples playing bridge on a suburban veranda, yet behaving like squabbling children—pulling hair, falling from chairs, crying, tattling, and cursing. The satire targets the "younger generation" complaint (a perennial cultural anxiety). However, the joke's real target is the *adults themselves*. By showing respectable married homeowners engaged in petty, childish behavior, Anthony critiques how grown-ups haven't truly advanced beyond childhood despite claiming superiority over kids. The final panel—visiting neighbors (Billy and Dotty) watching in dismay, asking "What's th' younger generation coming to?"—reveals the irony: these supposedly mature adults model terrible behavior. The piece mocks both generational smugness and suburban domesticity's failure to produce genuine maturity.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
JUDGE | | Author's Note: It is a A Y A candy )—Ool Look what | | | fortunate thing inde ct Your ge! I found! (They all forget | us Grown-ups have ad- Sally and dive greedily into | | vanced mentally and. spiri- By Norman Anthony the bor. Sally forgets her | i tually with the years. Think tears immediately and joins | | how terrible it would be if we still acted like them. They start quarreling over the candy. } kids! Read on! Tomsy—Come on! Let's play! Who's deal | | Scexe—The front veranda and front yard, of is it? | | a suburban home. » young married couples Bouny—It's mine! | | are in the midst of a bridge game. They sprawl Naxey—lIt is not! 1 all over their chairs childishly. For purposes of Bouny—It is so! | identification they are called Nancy, Tommy, Naxecyv—It is not! Sally and Bobby. Bonny—I tell ya’ it is so! Tommy (jumping up and down in his chair Tommy—Aw, let 'er deal, Bobby! gleefully, then reaching over and pulling Sally's Bonny (glaring at Nancy)—AN right! Go hair)—Whee! Our rubber! ahead—SELFISH! Nancy (his partner)—Oh! Goody! Goody! Naxeyv (grabbing Tommy's drink) Aw, (She teeters back and forth in her chair and sud- ‘Tommy! Kin I have the rest of your drink? We i | dently falls over backwards with a crash, She (At this juncture, another couple have wan | j | picks herself up, crying loudly.) Boo hoo! Boo dered on to the front lawn and have stood very | | hoo! bashfully watching the foursome on the veranda, | Bonny (disgusted)—Aw, stop yer eryin’! Cry They listen to the conversation very frankly and baby! Come on an’ play! stand first on one foot and then the other and ed | 14 Tommy (fiercely, to Bobby)—G'wan! You'd nearer to the veranda all the time. They are Billy i ery too, if ya’ fell over backwards! and Dotty. The foursome pay no attention to i} Bonny (boastfully)—Aw! I would not! I fell them.) fF all the way down the cellar stairs last night an’ I Tommy (jerking it out of her grasp)—Naw! f never said a word! Naney—I'll give ya’ a quarter for it! Rt Sauzy (rubbing her finger accusingly at Bobby) Tommy (greedily) —Where is it? n | —Oh! Shame! Shame! You told a fib! I saw Naxev—Oh, I ha t got it—that is—not yet! you when you fell down! You said awful naughty Tommy (disgusted)—I thought so! (He takes words! An’ then you sat on the cellar floor an’ the drink away.) | cried! You said I was the bes’ lil woman in the Naxev—But I'll get it Saturday! That is if | world an’ that you weren't good enough for me! I'm good for the rest of the we | | Tomsy (gieefully)—Yah! | Mamma’s boy! Toumy— Ha! A hell of a ) Mama's boy ! 3 ance you've got! Sauty (shocked)—Ooh! ‘Tommy! What you said! “ Tommy (boastfully)—Aw, 1 say that all the time! And I say “Damn” Bonny (to Sally, angrily)—Tattle tale! I s‘pose you told your mother, too! (He gives her a vicious push and she falls over in her chair again and gets up crying.) ney (suddenly holding up a big bor of Ce i a i niin those awful words? (Continued on page 28) tou | Satty—Ooh! Who taught you | i per—Gosh! What's th’ younger generation coming to? comicbooks.com