Judge — July 21, 1928 — page 12: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Political Cartoon Analysis: "Intimate Glimpses of the Boobus Intelligentsius" This satirical cartoon mocks pretentious American intellectuals of the Jazz Age who affect European sophistication and artistic seriousness. The title "Boobus Intelligentsius" combines H.L. Mencken's term "booboisie" with mock-Latin, establishing the target: self-important pseudo-intellectuals. The figures depicted—including what appears to be poet Eddie Guest—complain about vulgar magazines, failed artistic ambitions, and insufficient income while dropping names like philosopher Benedetto Croce, painter Cézanne, and Dante's *Divine Comedy*. They reference obscure terms like "esoteric" without understanding them. The satire attacks the affectation of Continental European cultural superiority, the pretense of esoteric knowledge, and the gap between these intellectuals' inflated self-regard and modest actual achievements. The caption references Eugene O'Neill's *Strange Interlude*, suggesting these figures are theatrically neurotic poseurs. The cartoon mocks American cultural anxiety and snobbery during the 1920s.