Judge, 1935-11 · page 10 of 36
Judge — November 1935 — page 10: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Judge Magazine Page Analysis This page contains three satirical pieces reflecting post-WWI American concerns: **"Lines to An Absent Suitor"** mocks romantic sentimentality—a woman declares eternal love *provided* her suitor stays away, a joke about absence making the heart grow fonder taken to absurd conclusion. **"Over the Counter"** satirizes wartime/postwar scarcity and rationing. It imagines a future where gasoline is "solidified" to resemble cheese and sold like food at a butcher counter by weight. The humor lies in treating fuel as a commodity one purchases and slices like meat—a commentary on resource shortages and the absurdity of rationing. **"Consumer's Version"** is a dark joke about inflation and beef prices. Playing on the famous nonsense poem "I Never Saw a Purple Cow," it suggests prices have risen so steeply that becoming a cow would be economically advantageous. The final line about relief being "steady" implies economic hardship is chronic. All three pieces reflect post-war economic anxiety: inflation, scarcity, and rationing concerns dominating American life.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Judge Lines to An Absent Suitor INCE you've g I've had a change of heart and mind. T keep recalling things you said Before we knew our love was dead away [ tind 0 be— I see you as you us So tender and concerned with me. So bright and charming and appealing— And somehow [ have had the fee! That I will love you more each day Provided, dear, you stay away ! Simple Celia says she wasted a lot of time takir ju le: \ came out. trip around the world. She ed non of her srapshots Then there was the drugg ter who made sandwicl father used to make. After three weeks on the radio a song is dead, says a music pub lisher. Our complaint, however, is that the people who kill them go unpunished “Shall 1 wait for a reply?” Over the Counter UGE SHEIM. Sch Ne: nautics, w York University a new non-explosive announces that gasoline “solidified to look like a piece of cheese” was used successfully to run an ordinary gasoline engine. (Fillin’ ‘er up a few years from now) Um stalled de » pounds of gas Yes, sir, Our domestic is 17 cents a pound and the imported “Well, [ want a few pounds of do- mestic. My, that’s a nice-looking cut there on the counter!) How mutch is it?” “We'll put ‘er on the scales and find out... Hm... Trifle over five pounds. Call it 88 cents. Okay?” “Okay. And slice the gas very thin, please.” the road and need Consumer's Version “VE never seen a purple cow I never hope to see But at the price that beef is now It sure would pay to be one. ne And one nice thing about being on 1 wonder whose father that is—all men look alike to me! relief—it's steady, 8 comicbooks.com