Judge — December 1936 — page 36: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THIS MONTH the Old Gentleman on the Bench is feeling more than commonly mellow. Partly it’s the Christmas season, Partly, no doubt, it's his own advancing years. But mostly it's because he is welcoming to his court anew panel of grand jurymen—the sub. scribers to Life. For fifty-three years Life has been Jupce’s good humored colleague in applying the pointed tack of satire to the pants of hypocrisy. For a half century we have marched in the dis. tinguished company of that grand old magazine of American humor. At least, we have marched in the same field with Charles Dana Gibson, John Ames Mitchell, Edward Martin, Oliver Her ford, James Whitcomb Riley, and Brander Mathews. To name them all would be out of the question, as it would be to name all of our own champions. Charles Dana Gibson sold his first drawing to Life James Montgomery Flagg sold his first to JuDce funniest Bill Nye wrote some of his pieces in our pages. Julian Ralph was a regular contributor. And Thomas Nast, the inimitable “Zim,” Art Young and Ralph Barton cither began here or found increasing fame with JUDGE readers. ’ But time Today, L and with this issue we wel- marches on! ife laughs no more come the many loyal readers of Life to Juncr We right at home in the familiar salty pages of Don Herold Kyle Crichton, George Jean Nathan (well, well, George we welcome you back, too!) ¢ sure you will feel And with such popular fea tures as Life's Letters and Irving let's Are You Sure? department We want to i troduce you to our Baird Leonard (oh, so you know Miss Leon ard. Well, it's a small publishing world after all!), Peter Potter, George Coffin, Jack Cluett, Dr. Seuss, Sid Perel. own Ted Shane, Pare Lorentz Judge man, Judge, Jr., Jef Machamer. Y bath James T ke them once you get to know then And + into the yw if all of you will just step judge’s chambers for a mo. ment, we would like to get an old dusty volume down otf the shelf and read something to you from Vol Number 1, of Junce, October 29, 1881 ume 1, Scop “L have started th for fun. Mc let sordid souls seek that My only make people laugh and grow S paper Yes y is no object; object being to fat. | have not come in to crowd anybody else out but only to make one more to assist the world to see the joyous side of life, and if fail to please it shall not be \ for want of trying Yours ruly, The Juc Today, in the light of our completed half century we can challenge the world to show wherein we have failed to keep that pledge ’ But time marches on! Our robe is off nd our sleeves rolled up. We are con. vinced that there is a definite place in vigorous critical journal re and wit on a na. fica for of sat tional scale. And we are go- x to our best to make the new JUDGE just that. We are going to have fun doing more, and whisper it We are going to make is ov tant and esoteri Jupce is going to carry on with the fea that natured raillery ‘ood { pugnacious derision is the intell of converting people to fun. at nobody ever had too We are going forward to little much of it fund. fundamentals change entals, and how those JUDGE ON THE BENCH ao) Th around the subject of Economic Royal ! Jupce's first cartoon had fight ay Bosses. In 1881 the railroads were cut- s year our political battles raged ists. And for its tinst. the subject the ting high jinks at the expense of the people. Divorce was in the air and Jubce was in full cry against old and decrepit jokes-—a half century before the radio. Anti-Semitic were being held in Berlin meetings TERDAV/> A destructive — hurricane raged through Spain. Citi- zens were rioting in the streets of Paris. Stevedores were on strike in San Fran. cisco, and the cry of politi- cal reform was heard every- where. The monopoly was abroad in the land, and Wall Street was being hounded No, there is really new. The same old issues are octopus of nothing present for JUDGE to get around behind with a bent pin and a slapstick. Why, way back in December of 1881 JubGr advocated “The Square Deal” and today President Roosevelt is—but what's the use? The Old Boy on the Bench is happy that liberty still holds sway in this, our land, that freedom of thought, speech and action are still with us, that both reaction and the been fringe have , and that lunatic crushingly defeate democracy still rules . This Christmas should be the happt- ad in many years est most of us have More and more people are going back to work, confidence has returned, busi- ness is booming and America is again Only this time t blindly, as before, but with our headed for prosperity ranks in order, well disciplined and well officered. Judge salutes his readers, old and new, and wishes you all the Merriest Christmas ever. —— comicbooks.com