Judge, 1929-09-21 · page 13 of 36
Judge — September 21, 1929 — page 13: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis This page contains two distinct satirical pieces from Judge magazine: **"The Checker Fiend"** (bottom comic strip): Office bureaucrats debate naming a new month ("Boop") and where to insert it in the calendar. The satire mocks organizational inefficiency and absurd problem-solving—they seriously discuss the ramifications (Easter falling on July 4th, songwriting complications, calendar disruptions) for what appears to be a trivial or nonsensical proposal. It's humor derived from taking ridiculous premises seriously. **"Pointed Queries"** (right column): A list of sarcastic "questions" poking fun at high society's pretensions. Each query sarcastically suggests alternative embarrassing explanations for social activities—implying wealthy people either flaunt their money ostentatiously or hide financial/romantic failures behind polite society. References include Central Park social outings, yacht club positions, and the Marquis de Gramont (a French nobleman), targeting old-money elite's hypocrisy and status-consciousness. Both pieces use exaggeration to critique institutional absurdity and social pretension typical of early 20th-century American humor.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Lapy—Oh, this is jol “There‘are a lot of other good names, though,” said the president. vice- “Yes,” admitted the secretary, “we haven't touched on the neuter names like ‘broth’ or ‘scissors.’ The next question is: Where to put it?” “We could keep it in my wife's basket. temporarily,” untecred the secretary, shyly. ‘Aw, nuts!” exelaimed — the president, jumping up from his chair. “We mean, where shall we put the new month in the cal- endar? We've got to move two months apart and make room for the newcomer.” “How does ‘June, Boop, July’ strike you, fellows?” asked the vice-president. The ary said: “I don’t think it would’ please the song- writers. ‘Will you love me in December as you did in Boop?’ sounds perfectly silly.” “Another thing that’s bad about the position is that it’ makes Easter fall on the 4th of July, and I'll have to buy my kids lilies and Roman candles,” the presi- dent said. The vice-president: grew sud- denly ps ned up on his chair, ited: ‘Thirty days hath September, April, Boop and November in on the last stanza and the meeting adjourned. —Jack Creerr ce push em? Pointed Queries “Did you take a carriage ride through Central Park with the rest of the gang, or are you on the ne “The captain of last year’s foot ball team wants to see you, sir; ~ shall [show him in, or are you you clected commodore scht Club for next year, or didn’t you serve anything this suminer?” “Did the Marquis de Gramont finally propose to your daughter, or hasn’t your income tax been published yet?”