Judge, 1928-09-22 · page 9 of 36
Judge — September 22, 1928 — page 9: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "Help Wanted, Female" - Judge Magazine Satire This page satirizes **gender roles and marriage expectations** in early 20th-century America. The main cartoon mocks the absurdity of job requirements for women. Mr. Pearson describes an exhausting position demanding diplomacy, nutrition expertise, organization, and constant availability—then reveals the "job" is actually **marriage**. Miss Holmes accepts immediately ("Yes, Wilbur darling, I will marry you!"), the joke being that women were expected to perform all these demanding tasks unpaid as wives. The accompanying text presents this as a "Help Wanted" ad, treating domestic labor as employment while highlighting how society undervalued women's work. The secondary items (musical duets, author lamenting low book sales, the "Magic Carpet") are lighter filler pieces typical of Judge's format—humorous observations on everyday life rather than pointed social commentary. The satire targets how marriage was presented to women as their primary "career" while requiring extraordinary skills and total self-sacrifice.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
| | Help Wanted, Female Mr. Pearson tapped his gl against his immaculate — finger nails and gazed reflectively at Miss Holmes, who was busy tran- seribing pot hooks into trisyllabic words for her important employ- cr. For quite a few minutes Mr. Pearson conti efficient harbor whistles ued to gaze at his Outside the ved faintly in the summer afternoon haze. “Miss Holme pondcrously -earson, “there is filled. A better job - one you hold. It is a hard, responsible post, bigger than any now in the compan “Ld like to advance my modestly said Miss Holmes. If,” “The position requires special- talents,” said Mr. Pearson, “The one who gets it, first of all, must be a diplomat, particularly accustomed to handling men. She must understand dietetics, nutri- tion and m. nt. She must be an org: . capable of dele gating tasks to others. Her ap- pearance must be neat and not gaudy, She must be a planner, a dreamer, friendly yet firm when t ion demands. The job requires all of one’s time. The holder will probably be tied down by it, so that so activities will have to be subordinated to the big task at hand. It is the kind of work that is never done, Each day brings its quota of new tasks. Would you care to tackle such a job, Miss Holmes Miss Holmes dow and g oce: ked to the win- doa moment at the y vessels in the harbor. Mr. Pearson's keen eyes never left her. Finally she turned about, a ra- it light on her countenan Yes, Wilbur darling,” she said, “Twill marry you!” —Anrtiver L, Lirpaann di The Musical Inclinations of the Spratt family Jack Spratt, he sang quite flat, His wife sang like a bird; The words of every song he knew, But she knew not a word. And just as Spratt could eat no fat, While she was fond of suets; Why, neither one could sing alone, But they went great in duets. —By tie Cruty Portes, R.C.O. “Ah, Gladys, my darling,” lamented as forty, to her elfin daughter, aged eleven, rt-faced matron of ‘may you never know the sorrows of an author's life. Last year I wrote an elementary arithmetic, and only siz copies of the book have been sold.” “Well, dearie,” responded the tot, “at least you have the satis- faction of knowing that they were count.” Gladys, by the read by the people who ay, graduated recently from the Des Moines Business College with major honors in molding and groveling. The Magic Carpet—for rapidly dismissing office pests ? comicbooks.com