Judge — February 1935 — page 12: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Judge Magazine Satire: "Make Big Money Writing" This page satirizes mail-order writing courses—a common scam of the early 20th century. The advertisements promise quick riches through simple writing work, featuring testimonials from supposed graduates ("Bud" McGargle, "Weasel" Smilch, Winnie Brogroves) who claim extraordinary earnings from minimal effort. The satire is evident in the absurd specifics: McGargle made $743 "one afternoon" from blank checks; Smilch earned thousands by "making a few simple marks." The course itself costs only $10 and includes "a bottle of ink, and twelve assorted steel pens." The accompanying cartoons mock both the scheme's implausibility and those desperate enough to pursue it. The bottom cartoon shows a couple in poverty, the wife pointing to a stove with a sign about writing—darkly suggesting they're starving while awaiting promised riches. The target is twofold: predatory correspondence schools exploiting economic anxiety, and gullible people seeking easy wealth without real work.