Judge, 1928-10-20 · page 18 of 36
Judge — October 20, 1928 — page 18: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a humorous piece by S.J. Perelman satirizing wartime absurdity and agricultural bulletins. While Americans were sacrificing for WWI ("making the world safe for Democracy"), the Department of Agriculture issued bizarre advice about removing tongue stains and—more ridiculously—grooming cutworms for state fairs. The satire focuses on Perelman and his wife's supposedly genuine obsession with pet cutworms, complete with a prize specimen named Hosmer Gosling who attends "baking college." The joke culminates in a pun: when asked if he's become a master baker, Hosmer replies he's only a "Studebaker" (student baker)—a play on the automobile brand. The bottom illustration appears unrelated: it shows a football team with a Hula dancer added as coaching staff, another absurdist jab at contemporary trends. The humor targets both wartime rationing anxiety and the gap between serious national priorities and frivolous civilian pursuits.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
JUDGE Cutworm Fads and Fancies By Those of us who are staying home and saving peach-pits and tinfoil whilst our boys are at “the front” making the world safe for Democracy will be interested in two bulletins from the Dept. of Agriculture. The first of these, called “How to T: Out Spots and Stains,” says, “Spots and stains on the tongue can be ed by bathing them with al- shol and ginger ale. Do not leave lighted matches in’ the The author and his wife with their pet cutworms. mouth, however, as ginger ale is The second “Alle Religiosen Re- en sind der Profanie- rung Liebe” (Sacred and Pro- fane Love) contains some fine J. Perelman, suggestions about grooming cut- worms for the State Fair that all cutworm fanciers and collectors would be crazy if they passed it up. The author and his wife, who was a minus sign before she was soldered to him in the bonds of matrimony, first. became inter- ested in these sterling creatures when they found a pitiful: she- cutworm with a tiny white bundle in her arms on their doorstep one snowy night. They took the pariah in and as time passed their feeling kindled into love (I mean their feeling for the cut- worms; the two principals has al- despised cach other). Since they have never lost for cutworms. The this time has grown, as photograph above shows. Mr. Perelman and_ his chief wife are shown ing on their elbows in the background, whilst the happy family of cut- worms is reclining on the turf in front of them, A portrait of Hosmer Gosling, the prize cutworm of the family, is also shown above. Hosmer has spent the last two years ina Cutworm Editor of Juvar: baking college where he is learn- ing to create pies and cup- with his deft hands. In regards to this there was a side-splitting anecdote enacted when he was home this summer from college. Hosmer was lying in the porch swing playing his fife when the little girl cutworm from next came up the steps. “Well, Hosmer,” she said, “I suppose you are now a full- fledged master baker.” Hosmer Gosling, our prize cuticorm, “No,” said Homer, with a humorous twinkle in his six eyes, “IT am onl Studebaker (stu- dent bake The incident cre ated much laughter amongst the dragoons on the stairway. (Continued on page 28) To improve their tack- ling the coach rung in a Hula dancer on the squad. | comicbooks.com