Judge, 1932-05-28 · page 12 of 36
Judge — May 28, 1932 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "The Parked Car" - Judge Magazine Satire This story-cartoon by Homer Croy satirizes changing courtship customs of the early 20th century. The narrator nostalgically contrasts old-fashioned "parlor courting" (chaperoned, supervised, in the home) with modern youth who court in parked cars—viewed as morally dangerous. The plot: Earl Hardesty's daughter Aurealia was a virtuous girl expected to marry a respectable local boy. But when a traveling drummer compliments her, she abandons proper parlor courtship. The implication is that unsupervised car-courting leads to moral compromise and broken engagements. The accompanying cartoon shows a young couple in a parked car beside what appears to be a speakeasy or movie theater, illustrating the "immoral" modern dating practice the text condemns. The satire mocks generational hand-wringing about youth morality—a recurring social anxiety. The joke cuts both ways: the old guard's anxiety about cars and unchaperoned dating seems excessive, yet the story validates their concerns by showing actual (implied) consequences.
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JUDGE The Parked Car HERE'S too much courtin’ in the r and too little in the idea. In the old days when love-makiny was confined to the or, With the mother and father asleep in the next room, you didn’t run no risk of having a strange travelin’ man in the family; but the minute the youny people gave up the parlor and started readin’ palms in a car parked on a lone country d, trouble raised its head and snorted in our faces. In my when I went to see a yirl, she opened up one of the win- dows and entertained me in the par- lor. There we'd the girl and me, in chairs four t apart, lookin’ at Goat Island, N ara Falls, on the stereoscc I suppose it seems tame to the young people of today and mebbe it is, but no parlor- courted girl ever sobbed into her pillow afterward; or suddenly had to pack her suite and go to visit Aunt Emmy in Omaha. Where is the stereoscope today? Up in the attic along with the Favorite Hymns of Moody and nkey, that’s where. How m Is of today ever heard of By Homer Croy Island?) How many young men and women of today, when they are joined together in the sight of God and a perspirin’ congregation, go to 1 Falls to see the wonder of ? A handful. Bad sign. end and neighbor, Earl y, is an example of what I mean. He's as fine a man a ever want to meet; p: garage, never sends in and aint ever bought a tire in his life from a mail order house. Well, Earl had a daughter by the name of Aurealia—a fine Christian — girl, helpin’ at the strawberry festival every spring, and was the last girl in our town to yet a chapped knee- ¥ Everybody expected her to plain, hard-workin’ man se a large fam'ly and be an or to the Baptist Church, vo blocks east of Earl's on Mul- berry Street lived a young feller who was sweet on her and it looked like weddin’ bells and everybody hoped so, as there aint a finer or me inspirin’ sight in the world than mar, and h clean, noble young man and a yirl with the s of innocence in here) Ikin’ slow and_ stately down the aisle, arm in arm, while the Widow Woods thunders out Lohengrin’s Wedding March. And it would of been a match, too, except Aurealia got the high-falutin’ feel- ing Which affects so many girls. Too good to be courted in the parlor. One day when Aurealia was going slowly past the Metropole Hotel, a drummer who was settin’ on the sidewalk with his chair tipped back against the wall run his eyes over her, like drumme will, At. this moment Aurealia’s handkerchief ac- cidentally slipped and fluttered to the sidewalk. The drummer picked it up and handed it to her with a bow and followed her into Wednes- day night prayer meetin’. "Ce T see you home?” he asked 4 after they had finished “Safe in the Arms of Jesus.” “TL suppose so. He be to call on her, which was the beginning of the trouble. Instead of courtin’ her in the parlor. or mebbe settin’ with her on a bar- oF Caleta am “Wot makes ya think ya couldn't sell beer here?” 10 comicbooks.com rel- her whi Wh you the to | lon look \ Tat