Judge, 1936-07 · page 12 of 36
Judge — July 1936 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "Unto the Third Generation" - Judge Magazine This satirical piece mocks the runaway commercial success of the "Gertie Girl" book series—a real phenomenon of early 20th-century children's literature. The illustrations show the generational cycle: a judge figure holding increasingly larger books representing how the series expanded across decades. The joke: an exhausted elderly man encounters the author buying the *first* Gertie book for his daughter, and warns her it's a trap. He describes becoming a helpless "Gertie addict"—forced to purchase 35+ volumes following the character from infancy through womanhood, then her daughters' entire lives, and now her *grandchild's* story. Each life stage spawned multiple spin-off books (school, college, romance, travel, etc.). The satire targets both the publishing industry's profit-driven sequelization and parents' inability to resist buying these books for their children—creating a three-generation consumption cycle. The final punchline—the grandchild is a boy—suggests the series will continue indefinitely, spawning yet another line of books.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Unto the Third Generation By Wanda Webb Dedicated to all par for their offspring bu N my way home from the office T remembered that I had promised to buy a book for my youngest daughter. Ke ely [ was near a drug store so I rushed in and told the clerk what [ wanted. She beamed and gushed: “We have just the thing, I know your child will simply the Gertie Girl series which take the heroine from infancy to womanhood in thirty-five volumes. Here is the first book of the series. In it the author has portrayed a character lives lore it I'll say it lives,” rudely interrupted an elderly worried- looking gentleman. Abruptly he turned to me. “Listen jonately, “If you are thinking buying that book stay your hand while there is yet time. vk at me. Tam one of Gertie ictims.” Indeed,” I murmured coldly “Ah, you think I "he said pa m mad,” he sai sadly, “and perhaps I n. If so, the cause of my de tis in your hands.” nd he poi » the juvenil a L was holding with its nocuous title, Gertie, the L Gul Yes, that litde book,” he continued, “Buy it, and you'll find the G hine, Tk have been a Gertie addict ever since my eldest di mere child. You see, many books of Gertie. tle It was simply Gertie in Kindergarten “Well, in a few days my child began clam next one of the series: habit worse than + for the nar School and then I began to see the dan You can probably guess what happened. We had to educate Gertie! pertic in Grau M good fellow, you can’t imagine what we've been G through. We had to School for Girls. Then came col four separate volumes, ar tie in Miss Gunson's f an guess how thankfully ur years of it in you we applauded when Gertie Graduat at last became Gertie the “In yur ignorance we thought we had seen the las Nh, but we didn’t know Gertie. She decided to travel! Consequently, we have journeyed to the far es of the world with her. Why, we've been with Gertie ¢ in Great Britain and Gertie in Gre When we finally returned t this country Gertie met young man, nice ww was, too, and their courtship laste volumes: Gertie's for seve yv Parties, Gertie’s Romance and Gertie In Love. Finally she up and married him, | refer you for this epoch in her career to the volume entitled Gertie’s Great Experience. “She has been blessed with many daughters—Gertie's Girlies they were always called when they were little: Gertie’s Girlies In Kindergarten, Gertie’s Girlies in Miss Gunson's School for Girls and Gertie’s Girlies the Girl Graduates. In recent volumes, however, they've be come known as Gertie’s act, one of them is al Here the old gentleman Girlies Grown to Womanhood. In f ready married and is even now coughed discreetly. Then his wildly over to ¢ beamed as he rushed shelf and took down a book. “It's come!” he shouted, “Gertie’s Grandchild—and what d'you know, it’s a Boy! comicbooks.com