Judge, 1931-08-01 · page 9 of 36
Judge — August 1, 1931 — page 9: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Judge Magazine Social Dialogue Cartoon This is a humorous domestic scene satirizing married couples' dinner conversations. Two couples (the Spivingtons and another pair) attempt to share anecdotes, but repeatedly interrupt and "correct" each other on trivial details—locations, car types, mechanical terms—while fundamentally agreeing on nothing. The satire targets: 1. **Marital dynamics**: The wife constantly corrects her husband's memory and details, claiming she's "protecting" him while actually dominating the conversation. 2. **Social pretension**: The characters discuss "appreciating depreciation" and other business jargon they barely understand. 3. **1920s automobile culture**: The failed attempt to tell a story about a young husband fixing a Ford—a vehicle associated with ordinary people—becomes bogged down in contradictions about whether it was a roadster or coupe. The final caption reveals the joke: Mrs. Spivington's "corrections" aren't helpful—they're controlling behavior dressed as wifely devotion. The satire mocks both the mundane nature of such conversations and the power dynamics within marriage.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
JUDGE SOCIAL DIALOGUE delightful to be with you to- night, Mrs. Spivington! John and I haven't been out to dinner for so long. How long is it, Joh “Three months or so. “Oh, no, it isn’t that long—how ridicule It’s not more than two months the most. Y been away—John had to ¢ ness trip. What was it ve I never can user, We've on at busi- were doing, remember all ¢ stupid old business terms.” stimating losses.” No you weren't, you were prais- ing something, Praising somebody's eciation, or something ppraising depreciation.” vo, I'm sure it was appreciation, He the most. terrible Mrs. Spivington! was wonderful to g just the nicest time of the year. We drove, you know, and had such a nice trip. Didn't we, John? “Uh-huh, it was fin “Well, it certainly wasn’t after we left Albany! V had a_ perfectly terrible *, Mrs. Spivington! Be- tween and—some place or other, Where was it it happened be- tween, John? “Troy and Schenectady. “No, it was Poughkeepsie and Syracuse, I remember now. Well, anyway, something got in the—in the or other + what was it that got in it, John “Dirt in the distributor.” memory, Well, anyway, it way son “Here’s that revolver I borro Fred. You'd better get it fir “No, it wasn't, it was the arbitra- tor, And it wasn't dirt, it was sor lint, or flint, or floss, or something. A garage man just del tely adjusted it wrong, Mrs. Spivington, and what- ever it was that got in got in. I've told John over and over that he should de erything himself and not trust those people, and he knows he ought to. Don't you, Joh Sure “Well, you shouldn't do the hard things yourself, use the garage people know ut it. It’s all right to do the simple t and save money, but it simply isn’t economy to Mecu-Marniep Gat—Don’t help me. try and experiment with the compli- cated thing Oh, John, that reminds me of that funny story about the young husband who tried to fix the Ford. You tell it—I've forgotten ex- actly how it goes.” “You mean the one that Watson told us in Clevelan “Yes, only it was that Mr. Snook t. Do you want an Yes, you do, too, Well fellow go on, “Well, it seems this newly-wed had just bought a little roadster - “No, John, it wasn’t a roadster, it was a coupé! “Well, anywa hadn't got more th: home, when “No, John, he hadn't even got that qT this young fellow n about I'll remember it in a minute! far! He hadn't gone more than just Well, anyhow—he heard some- thing rattling, so he got out and looked, and it) was differential about to drop off, and just then along came his wife in a big blue Lincoln with another man, and “Oh, no, no, John, that’s all wron He didn’t hear anything rattlin, just dropped off before he knew it, and it wasn’t a blue yellow one and incoln, it was a no, John, you don’t want any turnips, you know you can't digest them! . .. Mrs. Spivington, don’t you think I'm absolutely an ideal wife?—I always protect him so onscientiously from disagrees with him!" anything that —M. R. D. comicbooks.com