Judge, 1929-06-01 · page 13 of 36
Judge — June 1, 1929 — page 13: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis **"Domestic Relations"** satirizes out-of-town relatives who treat a host's home like a hotel. The poem, credited to Arthur L. Lippmann, catalogs their entitled behavior: sleeping on couches, smoking indoors, leaving babies unattended, and treating hosts as staff. The accompanying cartoon shows a frazzled family member literally upended by visiting relatives' chaos. The joke: relatives overstay and consume resources ("Food and movies extra") without contributing. The solution offered—charging relatives per visit—reflects early 20th-century middle-class anxieties about hospitality obligations and family freeloading during an era when travel and visits were becoming more common. **"Under the Three Gold Balls"** (the pawnshop symbol) presents a salesman's pitch for a Lightheart Automatic Lighter, credited to Alex Everope. The emotional manipulation is the satire: the seller romanticizes the item's history and reliability while emotionally blackmailing the buyer ("if you tell me you don't care to buy I will keep it"). At $1.50, it's absurdly cheap yet marketed with fabricated sentiment—mocking both aggressive sales tactics and consumer gullibility of the era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
JUDGE Domestic Relations Out-of-town kin Out-of-town relations, meaning very well, Think our habitation’s ran Uke an hotel. “Dear ones,” writes an uncle froma farm in Maine, “Coming for the summer, meet me t the train. wing for a visit on the mid night rattler,” "Phones an aunt from Boston, T should run a Statler! Is it any wonder that To onurse a ure a? cin the foyer, sleeping on a couch, Puffing in the cellar on a cigarette, Stumblir over babies we did not beget! Here's an ultimatum to relieve my straits Relatives are welcome—at a scale of rates So much by the visit, month or week or day, Food and movies extra. . Now they'll keep away! —Aurnen L. Livruass “Damn good thing I have a sense of humor.” Under the Three Gold Balls, a Sob Story Man, I tell you that you are getting a bargain. I've only had this for two ars and IT know what it will do. It's the easiest thing on gas you ever saw in your life. And koat it from an acsthetic standpoint: Are. those good lines or not? Isn't that. without a doubt, the trimmest job you have ever seen? Why, I went across the continent twice with this and, believe me, that requires stamina and sustained performance. I hate to part with it but I'm going to Europe ina short time and I want to get one of the new European models. I'll tell vou, old fellow, if you tell me you don’t care to buy T will keep it as a memento of the happy days I've had, the money it has saved me and the peace of mind T have had knowing its reliability. You'll take it? Well, it’s a bar- gain at $1.50. Fine, you can't go wrong with a Lightheart Auto- matic Lighter.” —Atrex Everorr comicbooks.com