Judge, 1930-05-03 · page 11 of 36
Judge — May 3, 1930 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Two Satirical Stories from Judge Magazine **"The Fly-by-Night"** depicts a kilted Scotsman obsessively swatting flies and spraying Flit (a commercial insecticide brand) while whispering "Revenge!" He explains to a curious observer that his compulsion stems from a romantic betrayal: a woman lured him to an expensive nightclub where he discovered an inflated dinner bill—the "fatal mistake" that ruined him. The joke satirizes how trivial modern annoyances (flies, commercial products like Flit) trigger disproportionate emotional responses, and how people blame external circumstances rather than their own poor decisions. **"An Educational Episode"** mocks a pompous school administrator criticizing a student's illegible handwriting. The teacher demands the student rewrite the paper ensuring "every single bit of it is illegible"—revealing the administrator's actual indifference to legibility standards. The satire targets bureaucratic hypocrisy and performative discipline in educational institutions. Both stories use exaggerated character types and absurdist logic typical of Judge's humor.
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The Fly-by-Night Ww a fly-swatter in one hand and a Flit gun in the d, decrepit gi From the ct that he wore .-close-clipped mustache, a tight- lipped grin and kilts 1 took him to be otchman, Hix behavior, however, puzzled me. He would swat a fly, spray it with Flit and then hoarsely whisper, “Re Curiosity fi rept up on ar hage can, tion, ally overcame ¢: 1 approached the fellow and asked him what he was doing. Ah, sir.” he murmured, absent- mindedly swishing his. fly-s wasn't always like this. Mine ix an al story. Would you care to hear it? I dodged a spray of Flit and as- I would. “he began, “was the cause And a beautiful lass she was, sir, A mateh for Venus and a Hame for Adonis. ing my I had been spend- rings with her for three or JUDGE “Howdya like livin’ out here?” “Too dang noisy. four years and we were happy. ‘Then came that fatal night. She wanted me to take hee toa night club fact, she insisted upon it. 1 f inst it, but who can fight love, sir? ‘That's what it was. Bes overpowering The dry-fly fisherman. Neighbors got a radio,” sured me, the food was cheap—it was the liquor that cost so much, and we didn’t really need to drink, “After we had hunted out a table at the night club, [ took a look at the menu. T could hardly believe my ‘The Special Dinner was cheap, absurdly se. With a fine gesture I ordered two Sy | “Ah, me eves. hers were that I discovered my fatal inist The waiter presented a check ! What proved, tly-speck.” With a ghoulish chuckle of glee the Scotchman. slithered away. He had spied another tly. Graxt Frnavson An Educational Episode » looking over these examination papers for the handwriting I find that some of to heart the instrne yu have not taken ns 1 have given Some, [must confess, de- Serving of great credit, ers. [ regret to say, 3 “Let's take your paper, Now, haven't 1 tried of enough to impress upon portance of thiy question of legibility ? It makes me feel that my efforts in i :t entirely futile ut the words you've written down here and find that al- a few of your wordy 4 , others « ten that T can just: bare what they are supposed to be. “This won't do at all—not sir! Now I want you to do this p: over ne his time make sure that every single bit of it is illegible, oth- erwise I shall have to recommend r discharge from our School for Wait- Har Siri you, every so writ- ers.” COMEDOoKS'com | 11}