Judge, 1929-01-19 · page 9 of 36
Judge — January 19, 1929 — page 9: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Judge Magazine: "Joanna and the Whale" This is a comedic sketch satirizing domestic marital conflict by reimagining the Biblical story of Jonah and the whale as a quarrelsome marriage. The satire works through absurdist incongruity: a husband-whale and wife-Joanna bicker like a working-class couple in a tenement apartment, fighting over household chores and each spouse's perceived failings. The humor targets 1920s-30s urban marriage dynamics and gender relations. Joanna accuses her husband of laziness; he boasts of "rescuing" her from a modeling career through connections to the Marriage Bureau (satirizing arranged matchmaking). The dialogue uses Yiddish-inflected English ("zoftik," "pants-jobber"), suggesting Jewish immigrant working-class characters—a common Judge magazine subject. The sketch mocks both spousal bickering and the pretension of treating lowbrow domestic squabbles as worthy dramatic material for Broadway impresarios.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
JUDGE Henry Joanna and the Whale Three Greek scientists named Oliver Acidosis has been work ing day and night in Assyria the past year probing the Jonah-and the-whale story. It now turns out that it was really a woman named Joanna, that she was week-ending in the fish's kisser, that started this love nest tangle. Several of — Broadway's — best known impresarios like Jed Har ris, Chamberlain Brown, and the man that sells chestnuts at the corner of #2nd St. and the Rue Hooey, has been hammering at me to write a thre rt play around this novel discovery. 1 thought of writing one with the whale a big booze racketeer in love with a little night-club en tertainer and maybe calling it “Night Hostess,” but my spon- sors said that nobody would go to sce a crime play. Anyways, 1 have glued together a few bits of dialogue and a dash of sex that you could put on in your own home for a few cents; so turn on your radio, give the children some pots and pans to t, start the RBFULER + Now you can see how it is when you buy a hat! vacuum cleaner and settle down for a quiet ten minutes with Joanna ann tHe Witace In American Domestic Comedy, with Molly Picon and Boots, the Wonder Horse Scene—The mouth of Moby Dick, a typical whale. Joanna, a zoftik blonde, is hanging up pictures Famiry Man Another blessed event! My gawd! Whale—How can 1 read a paper when you're whaling away ata tack all day lon Joanna—If you weren't such a lazy slob you'd hang these pic tures yourself, you big ‘Turk. Whale — What are you, a cripple? Joanna—N when [drew 3 Whale—Is that so? Say, you'd still be a cloak model if 7 hadn't had a relative in. the Marriage Bureau so I could get a licens« wholesale. but I married one Joanna—Ah - ha - ha - ha - ha Why, you fat pants-jobber, you. until T came along none of the other whales would even danec with you on account of your muddy complexion, I'd like to iny other wife that would a brute like you facials. I'm sick of your lip anyway. see tive Whale—Listen, would you like a nice bust on the beezer? I won't charge you a cent. (Al knock is heard on his upper lip.) Who's tha (Continued on page 26) comicbooks.com