Judge, 1929-09-07 · page 10 of 36
Judge — September 7, 1929 — page 10: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Explanation for Modern Readers This page contains a satirical article by S.J. Perelman titled "Plant a Garden and Help Win the War," written during a wartime period (likely WWI or WWII, based on references to "winning the war"). The cartoon at top shows a strongman performing at what appears to be a circus or carnival, with judges observing. The caption suggests a metaphorical critique: "The strong man's wife let her lap-dog get away from her behind the scenes"—implying something questionable occurs away from public view. Perelman's article satirizes the home-gardening propaganda campaign encouraging Americans to grow vegetables to support the war effort. He mockingly applies high commercial language to humble gardening, invents absurd anecdotes (a man making $7.45 from an asparagus bed named "Bruce Bodkin"), and parodies patriotic rhetoric. The humor targets both the oversold promises of wartime gardening initiatives and the gap between propaganda and reality. The fake James Whitcomb Levine poetry quote is Perelman's invention, adding to the absurdist satire.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The strong man’s wife let her lap-dog get away from her behind the scenes. Plant a Garden and Help Win the War By S. J. Perelman rsterpay, whilst I was dally- nongst the hedgerows in co-stai Harris tweed with my sturdy blackthorn, puff- ing my faithful old briar stuffed with fragrant cavendish, I heard the bitter-sweet notes of my first thrush, that happy harbinger of summer. A hot thrush of emotion swept over me as the ever- memorable words of that sterling bard, James Whitcomb recalled themselves poignancy: “How would a Howard suit suit you? Levine, in all their Come over and try it on, You can get suited in something that’s nifty, And ready-to-wear at twenty- tico-fifty, Believe me, a garment that’s from the best of material, We're losing money, I’m not kidding you.” Yes, gracious Dame Summer is beginning to beckon us to the wildwood and we shall soon be decking our hair with garlands and listing to F pipes. Soon dainty farmerettes will be seen carrying hoes and rakes into the garden and rakes will be seen carrying farmerettes into the barn, It all seems lak everythin’s 7 “Well, fellows, I guess my fortune is made—I've built a cigarette that works.” lighter really wakin’ an’ stirrin’, he murmured, his ears aglow and his toe awk- wardly describing circles in the hot sand. Now, wh: for your t plans have you lai arden, “Mr. Ave Suburbanite”? Are you going to load your table with fresh greens and succulent fruits or are you going to stick to the same old diet alt hoss and potatoes that y last summer? By , how did you make out with that scurvy of yours? Ethel told my wife you traded it in for a case of the botts and got four dollars. to boot (or rather, to bott). Wish you'd drop me a line soon, Fred, as I'm thinking of giving Ethel a case of the botts for our anniversary. Last year Albert Charles Swin- burn uthor of “Small Garden- Patches,” made $7.45 with a fine asparagus bed named Bruce Bod- kin. You can’t go wrong on an asparagus bed, home gardener, and if you want “Dew Cumme Inne” to be a show place, here's your grift. Unfortunately Swin-