Judge, 1928-11-24 · page 13 of 36
Judge — November 24, 1928 — page 13: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "High Hat" Satire: Post-Election Escapism This Judge magazine piece satirizes post-election disillusionment through a tongue-in-cheek proposal to create "Pleasure Island" on Staten Island. The author, frustrated by election results and what they perceive as growing conformity and "respectability," jokingly proposes establishing a new nation with selective membership. The cartoon depicts protesters at a Staten Island ferry, holding signs about exclusions and fees—mocking the elitist fantasy described above. The satire targets prohibition-era complaints (mentions of "hooch"), cultural anxieties about modernization (saxophone players, tabloid papers, "Mammy" singers), and social movements the author opposes (reformers, fundamentalists, "Lucy Stoners"—women's suffrage advocates). The piece reflects 1920s-era conservative anxiety about social change, presenting escapist fantasy as commentary on political resignation and cultural conflict among the magazine's affluent readership.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
JUDGE WG: Now that election is over we may look forward to four more vears of prosperity, full gara bigger bigots, respectability hum hooch ,.. to me, being of a peculiar turn of mind, this is a dismal prospect indeed . . . there is nothing more boring t com- placency ... but I can’t, as our bigger bigots would yell, “go back where I came from if I don't like it here,” as I never came from anywhere, and besides, if I did, I don’t think I'd care to go back there... there is only one thing left to do and that is to start a brand new country! . .. now this may seem like an impossible feat, but when you consider the results of the election, you can readily see that — this w country wouldn't have to be very Is in fact an island would suffic start with... and right now, I have my eye on a piece of land called en Island, which we could get for a song. ..and when I say song, I mean song... our little band could march the length THE Fy, IL DINNE; Se WAKE T/ breadth of S. 1. Clown, soon we and “Laugh, singing, Laugh,” and would have it en- tirely to ourselves ... We could then set up our own government, and in doing this, we could go back to the first principles of our forefathers, and the man who got the most votes would be elected to office the United tes Marines would probably be set upon us immediately, but we could offset that by timing our attack at a time when they were busy in Hollywood . . . in. the meantime we could hire the Leviathan, or some other big ship, to tow us out to s d then we would be safe... the advantages of such an island would be tre- mendous .. . we would be within casy commuting distance of New York and our water front in direct line with ships from Europe. * 8 6 We will, of course, name, so why not Pleasure Island? . 2. a new national anthem wouldn't be necessary as we could use the “Star Spangled Banner” very nicely... for a constitution we couldn't find a better one than the one we've been used to, minus the eighteen amend ments . the following things would b varred from Pleasure Island... . Reformers, Funda mentalists, Luey Stoners, Movies, Radio and Radio announcers, Book-of-the-Month clubs, Stand patters, Tiller girls, Tabloid pa- pers, Inquiring — photographers, Comic strips, Saxophone players, Actors, Infant prodigies, Fire Hydrants, © Mammy —_ singers, Bloomers, Hat check girls, Edi- torial writers, Big Men from the (Continued on page 32) need a PLEASURE Boneee ee AND AFTER Lol comicbooks.com