Judge, 1929-02-16 · page 9 of 36
Judge — February 16, 1929 — page 9: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Judge Magazine Satire Analysis This is a humorous political satire mocking Afghan political instability and American celebrities. The article satirizes the revolving-door leadership of Afghanistan ("eleventh monarch to ascend the throne...in four days"), presenting it as absurdly chaotic. The joke centers on Ahmed Kah Perelman—likely a fictional character mixing an Afghan name with American humorist S.J. Perelman's surname—being crowned ruler. The text ridicules the process by including irrelevant American figures like Irvin S. Cobb (a famous humorist/testimonial writer for Maxwell House Coffee) as a competing candidate. The secondary cartoon ("The Skeptic") jokes about the new ruler's sophistication: he rejects a conventional joke about a lady in need because he'd already heard it at Cornell University, then inexplicably prioritizes seeing Manx cats over serious governance. The final panel pun ("Another pet!!") suggests he's more interested in acquiring animals than ruling. The satire mocks both Afghan political turmoil and American celebrity culture's irrelevance to serious governance.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
JUDGE Boy Ruler Heads Dusky Af- ghans—Ahmed Kah Perelman Usurps Throne! Kabul, Afghanistan, Feb. 1 (by special Kabul to JUDGE)—The eleventh monarch to ascend the throne of Afghanistan in four days, Ahmed h Perelman was today crown Miss Af tan” and elevated to supreme power. He was from among six other candidates, fore- most among whom was Irvin S. Cobb, a testimonial writer for Maxwell House Coffee. Al- though many pro-Cobb Afghans tried to place the title of Khan on the Cobb, the attempt was quashed with small steel quash- ers imported for the purpose and he was wrapped in a tobacco leaf and sent back to Columbus, Mis- sissippi, to be fried as directed in his last well and testimonial. Ahmed Kah anis- chosen Perelman is one of the wealthiest men in the king- dom, possessing two pairs of pair of diamond sculls suitable for dress wear. He is regarded as somewhat intelli- gent and can already walk fairly well, though he still has to hold on to the crib. One of his first acts on ascending the throne was to inquire of the Lord Chamber- lain what persons desired audi- ence with him, pants and a The Skeptic » lord, a lady waits with- key. ithout what?” inquired the ruler innocently. “Without food and clothing,” admitted the Chamberlai “Aw, that joke appeared in the ‘Cornell Widow’ when I was still wearing reefers!” objected Ahmed Kah pettishly. “Who else is there outside?” He formed that a la body of Manx cats had come all the way from Dub’s Grove, Rhode Island, to see him. “Show them in immediately,” was in- ww he barked, over-ruling the Lord Chamberlain's objection to the f n felines, “of COURSE a cat may look at a king! ‘That’ what we’ here for. Later, when the tabbies were assembled in the Winter Palace (the Winter alace) to render Ahmed Kah the young potentate d out one of the kitties and remarked to a minister, “I must have that Manx.” She was ordered to remain after the others had gone. The (Continued on page 29) “Another pet!!—as if I ain't got enough worl: caring for the canary.” comicbooks.com