Judge, 1929-04-27 · page 10 of 36
Judge — April 27, 1929 — page 10: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "What Are the Jitters?" - Judge Magazine Satire This page satirizes "the jitters," a nervous condition supposedly afflicting early 20th-century Americans. The text mock-seriously attributes the malady to taxidermy (stuffing birds), professional drinking, and gin consumption. The top cartoon shows a woman knocked down by a car driven by two men, casually dismissing the accident ("just a little paint knocked off"), suggesting reckless behavior and indifference to danger. The lower cartoon depicts a motorist mistreating a donkey, captioned "Irate Motorist—Hey—you brute! Stop mistreating that poor dumb animal!"—likely criticizing animal cruelty. The satire appears to mock both the medical establishment's diagnosis of nervous ailments and contemporary social problems: reckless driving, alcoholism, and moral indifference. The "jitters" serves as a humorous umbrella diagnosis for various modern anxieties and vices plaguing urban society.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
RE FULLER. “'S all right, Ed—jest a little paint knocked off!" What Are the Jitters? According to the stud-book of the American Medical / why there has been of ‘the jitters ar > citi- zenry and in the ; lone there were over two cases of the jitters for the fiseal year ending March twelfth. More and more people who has been going out and falling into whirlpools has afterwards complained of nausea, loss of weight, drowning, and jit- ters. Since the creator of these lines has been in thrall to the jit- ters since infancy, why I will dis- miss my modesty and expose the facts even if it slays me. The jitters is a malady that it seems to strike only at people studying taxidermy. One of the first questions that a medical man will launch at you when you bring a case of jitters into his 1 “Do you stuff birds , vither reply in the negative or say “No” if you do not stuff these airy messengers (birds). ‘The disease mostly flays those who are busy stuffing tapirs or woodpeck ers, although there was a man named Disbrow or Faulkner who cont ed jitters the whilst stuf- fing Esterhazies (Armenian beav- ers). Of late many professional drinkers seem to show the symp- toms after a bout with “Demon Alcohol,” and gin and jitters may possibly go hand in hand. Inate Moronist poor dumb animal! Hey you brate! The first sign of the jitters is a jittering sensation and a feel of pulchritude that rapidly away and leaves small heaps of slag or clinkers. During this pri- mary stage the invalid often runs a temperature and shows evidence of delirium, like believing what his moll tells him and working for Stop mistreating that comicbooks.com