Judge, 1928-10-06 · page 35 of 36
Judge — October 6, 1928 — page 35: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page features a humorous biographical sketch of "Bennie Gatz," a purported famous songwriter and cab driver. The accompanying photo shows a stern man in formal attire—likely a recognizable public figure to contemporary Judge readers, though unclear to modern viewers. The joke centers on Gatz's humble origins: the anecdote describes his early St. Louis days when he and a partner survived through petty schemes, including selling a stolen watch with missing internal parts to an undercover cop. The humor lies in Gatz's unlikely rise from these disreputable circumstances to respectability. The column uses this rags-to-riches story as a frame for promoting Judge magazine itself, suggesting that reading it brightens leisure and aids work—a tongue-in-cheek advertisement wrapped in entertainment. The decorative borders featuring comical figures reinforce Judge's satirical, humorous editorial style of the era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
vho as oily ‘em ned pres here ori- not h as joes MW. The Clubfellow’s Column REAT hig oak trees from little acorns grow is the favorite proverb of one famous club- fellows. He eof our readers for m but it was not until just recently that we learned the touching his tory of the early life of Bennie Gatz. the famous song writer, cab driver a Bennie’s let by Bennie bill for a be without ‘act, | sion to Jever It was in St. Louis. My partner and Thad been sett but we had a tough break, seeing as ho my partner, who was nearsighted f drinking wood alcohol, sold a watch to a plain clothes man, and it seems somebody had stole the works from the watch so it and the cop 4 go back us to the reform here ‘al com nd @ plot, ppencd to find a copy of Jvoce, and pictures and pasting got a great book 2 using it successf eve r find that more ent than taking the new issues 5 putting the old jokes on ne king them hard to find. So hy I always regard Juvcr as a Hoping you are the same, Bassin Gatz We do not mean to suggest that you follow the example of our famous frien but we know that Jvoce will make yc leisure hours brighter and help to © your work, if any. It is with the sole idea of making your work easier that we have attached a coupon. All you have to do is fill it in and send it to us. A striking likeness of Mr. Gate. (Note: Mr. Gutz is the one under the bed.) we ee ew em em em ewe = - 5 ishing Cou Ine. Fae! lia attigh comicbooks.com