Judge, 1928-05-12 · page 30 of 36
Judge — May 12, 1928 — page 30: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two distinct elements: a Santa Fe railroad advertisement and a satirical article titled "Ye Greate Real Estate Boome." **The Advertisement** (left): Standard travel promotion for bargain excursion tickets to Western destinations, nothing satirical. **The Main Satire** (right): A mock-medieval parody of a real estate boom, written in pseudo-Shakespearean dialect ("ye," "knyghts," "hath"). The piece ridicules aggressive real estate speculation by imagining a medieval kingdom where a developer character ("Merlin ye Realtor") convinces King Arthur and knights to abandon their spacious palaces for cramped apartment rentals—including one tower apartment so high the tenant can't climb it in armor. The satire mocks: - Salesmen's ability to convince people to accept inferior living conditions - Overpopulation from unchecked development - Landlord indifference to tenant complaints The accompanying cartoons show various inconvenient scenarios of cramped apartment living. The joke at bottom about "Philip the Great" tending the furnace mockingly elevates a lowly servant—commenting on false status from real estate dealings. This reflects 1920s anxiety about urban overcrowding and speculative building booms.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
4 SantaFe is,selli Xcursion tickets at bargain rates to California, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and the whole Pacific coast. Be sure to take the In- dian-detour and stop over at Grand Canyon. Mr. W. 3. Black, Paes. Traf. Basta Vo Bystemn Linea” MET 10) Railway Exchange, Chicago procccnccennccness. With their unequalled opportunities for salesmanship, why should barbers confine themselves to toilet necessities? —Henonist Ye Greate Real Estate Boome (Continued from page 15) cooking on a jolly little range beside ye bed. And if perchance the heathen hordes should sud- denly besiege ye town, ye Kyng can grab his instruments of war and dash out quickly to ye fray. Whereas when he lived in ye palace, his arms were scattered over ninety-seven roomes and he could never gather them until the fight was well-nigh over. Ye knyghts have followed Arthur’s suit, and every flat is now be-occupied. E’en ye top- most suite up in ye Northeast Tower. Sir Bedevere and his goode lady, Nan, have got the lease on this. But they do find the height a trifle inconvenient, insofar as Bedevere cannot climb up ye tower in heavy armour. And so he hath not been up home to see his wife for more than thirteen weeks. But she doth wig-wag all ye news to him, and he to her, and in ye longe run I know they will be used to this and not complaine. Praise to ye Pellmann Institute! For it hath made me widely famed as “Merlin ye Realtor.” And soon I shall put up some more and bigger Apts. with more and smaller roomes at higher prices. And I shall be ye richest gent in all of Merrie England! DISZY AES They call him Philip the Great because he tends our furnace. Judge pays $5 for each one printed ss ——e comicbooks.com