Judge, 1931-10-03 · page 4 of 36
Judge — October 3, 1931 — page 4: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Explanation for Modern Readers This page satirizes the "STATE LINE" sign—a boundary marker between states. The cartoon jokes that while everyone understands traffic signs like "SCHOOL SLOW," "KEEP RIGHT," and "NO PARKING," nobody worries about the STATE LINE sign, despite its legal significance. The satire's point: Under new Automobile Financial Responsibility Laws spreading across 17 U.S. states and Canadian provinces, crossing a state line could have serious consequences. If you caused an accident, you might lose your driving privileges or car license unless you could prove financial responsibility—such as an Aetna automobile insurance policy. The cartoon warns drivers that this "innocent little sign" now carries real legal weight, making insurance essential for interstate travel.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
SCHOOL SLOW KEEP | RIGHT = fone NO PARKING ivy You know what this sign means ... and this one ... and this one But how about that innocent TATE LINE? Who ever worries about that litle sign? This is America! Ah yes, but with the new Auto- mobile Financial Responsibility Laws —laws which have already spread to 17 states as well as 3 Canadian Provinces—there is something to worry about—unless you are Aitna-ized! little sign “STATE LINE”? } Indeed nowadays, if you violate cer- tain laws or cause an accident, you may not only lose your right to drive, but your car license as well— Unless you can show acceptable evi- dence of your financial responsibility —such as an Etna Automobile Policy. May we send you the complete story? Use coupon! The Atna Casualty and Surety Company, The tna Life Insurance Company, The Automo- bile Insurance Company, The Standard Fire Insurance Company of Hartford, Connecticut. ATNA-IZE SEE THE ATJNA-IZER IN YOUR COMMUNITY—HE IS A MAN WORTH KNOWING MAIL THIS TODAY The Ana Casualty and Surety Company, Hartford, Conn. Gentlemen: Send me your fre booklet —""What Every Motonst Should Know About The New Financial Responsibility Laws”. Name tna writes practically every form of Insurance and Fidelity and Surety Bonds. | 444" SUDGING™ BOOKS [75s our high pleasure this week to tip you off on some superior enter- tainment. We say high pleasure with high pleasure. You may imagine we get a lot of fi ek, de- livering k. 0. punches to books. The deuce we do, All we get is mental black eyes from type bruisings; and low blood pressure. For books are like anything else: food, liquor, shows, women’s ankles, music. If these items are good: the effect is good, increasing the redness of the corpuscle and the appetite for enjoying the enjoyments of life. Otherwise the effect is very bottom-of-the-pot. So when we read a good book, we're relieved. The high pleasure to be reported is “Guys and Dolls,” by Damon Run- yon, a terrible bass in a quartet, a rather verbose sports writer and a n who had the misfortune of being valled the best reporter in America by Arthur Brisbane, but the real MeCe when it comes to short-story writing. Not that he is going to lift ace laurels for such off the beak of Lardner, but he's. going to come so. And, do it or not, he’s goir tisfy us a long, long time in any craving we may have for stories about the motley that floats inanely around Broadway nerous. ty close to doing to For Runy is little that is terribly deep or for the ages about him, is the present historian for the Hardened Artery. Take him off Men- tal Poverty Row and he'd probably be lost — or introduce him to some nice 1 le and he wouldn't know what to do: his stuffd be terrible. In contact with the floaters, the chiselers, the ambitious chorines, the overdone host- esses, the rodmen, the big shots, the cheap columnists, the N. V. A. men, the shills, rats, bums, “characte punks and all the sleck, skinn rancid rabble that makes up the life of that Street of Streets—he not only seems to be—God forgive us!—in his element, but he has more of a real un- derstanding of the bozorie than all the combined underworld fictioneers com- bined—from MelIsaac to Hecht. And his skill in weaving them into stories is uncanny, razzing them fr ly, shrewdly and at times uproari- ously. Tho his stories have a tinge of the rosy romanticisin of the Saturday Evening Post and are a bit strained as to gag (Runyon a superior gag- ), they gratifyingly lack the bro- midic quality of the usual underworld guy and moll tale. Take a typical story: “Butch Minds the Baby.” Butch, who has retired as champion safe blower of the world to marry | happily and have a baby, wavers one night, and to make a lot of (Continued on page 25) asy comicbooks.com