Judge, 1931-04-11 · page 2 of 36
Judge — April 11, 1931 — page 2: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis This page is **primarily an advertisement**, not satirical content. It promotes "The Best American Mystery Stories of the Year," a 532-page anthology selected by Carolyn Wells, priced at $2.50 and published by The John Day Company. The ad emphasizes the book's prestige through a quote from S.S. Van Dine comparing Wells's contribution to the mystery genre with major scientific figures (Planck, Copernicus, Freud, Darwin, Virol, etc.). A list of contributing authors—including Dashiell Hammett, Ben Hecht, and others—establishes literary credibility. The only potentially satirical element is the opening phrase "thrills! chills!"—typical hyperbolic advertising language that Judge readers might find mockingly overwrought. Otherwise, this is straightforward commercial promotion in a satirical magazine.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
thrills! chills! ..- for the delight of every mystagogue, Miss Wells has selected the notable mystery stories of the past year. No one who indulges in the Sport of Presi- dents can afford to miss these 532 pages of harrowing mystery and unique crime detection, by authors of in- ternational repute. S. S. VAN DINE says “CAROLYN WELLS has done for the mystery story what Planck did for physics, what Copernicus did for astronomy, what Freud did for psychology, what Vir- chow did for anatomy, and what Darwin did for biology.” * THE BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY STORIES Sear YEAR Selected and with an Introduction by CAROLYN WELLS ¢ 532 pages $2.50 « THE JOHN DAY COMPANY 386 FOURTH AVENUE NEW YORK Gentlemen: Being an ardent mystagogue, I want you to send me CAROLYN WELLS’ BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY STORIES, including stories by all my favorite mysteriosophists. I am enclosing dollars for copies. Here are the authors of this exciting book.... Dashiell Hammett Melville Davisson Post Ben Ames Williams Arthur Somers Roche Gelett Burgess Clarence Budington Kelland Ben Hecht James Warner Bellah Mrs. Wilson Woodrow Faraday Keene Frederick Irving Anderson William J. Neidig John B. Kennedy Howard McLellan Jerome Beatty Hugh MacNair Kahler L. G. Blochman Mackinlay Kantor Allan Vaughan Elston Joseph Szebenyei comicbooks.com