Judge — May 1937 — page 3: what you’re looking at

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

LETTERS Gentlemen: As one of the readers of your magazine I want to take this opportunity of expressing my appreciation for your co- operation with “World Peace- ways.” I think if America is to keep out of war it is going to take active propaganda, and not mere passive drifting which char- acterized our actions in 1917. Very sincerely yours, ‘Wattace T. Partcu, M.D., Oakland, Calif. Dear Sir: This note is sent to you with many thanks for your April issue by a group of people of which I have been appointed corresponding secretary. Your article “Are You Sure?” has created a got furor among my friends, comparable only to a revolution. Much praise is due the person or persons who compiled these questions. Aside from the fun and fights that are entailed in com- paring our general knowledge we gather unto ourselves a fund of information that forms an integral part of our daily business and social life. We all eagerly await the May issue of JUDGE. Sincerely, Atva P. MEYER, New York City. Dear Sirs: So you'd like to know what your new merger-subscribers think of Jupce? I can hardly qualify as a new reader. Thirty years ago, when Jupce was the only humorous magazine with a progressive viewpoint, I used to contribute to it—back in the days when I expected to become the American Swift, a career which seems somehow to have flopped. I've been reading it off and on— mostly on—ever since. Well, you've taken over some good things from Life, notably “Are You Sure?” (I hit 80 for the first time this month, and am I proud?), but where are those drawings by Ned Hilton you promised us? I miss “Judge on the Bench,” and can't see why it and “Cross Currents” can't go in together; editorial comment every month isn't dated if it covers important subjects. But I'll forgive you a lot for taking over Charles B. Driscoll from Mid-Week Pictorial. That man ps better every time, and J can't imagine why he isn't as famous as he de- serves to be. Judiciously yours, Miriam ALLEN DEFoRD, San Francisco, Calif. Dear Editor: I was greatly appreciative of the tale of the Pekingese and the pipe, in your April, 1937 issue. There is one minor error in the ac- count as given. As one who has travelled much on the Boston & Maine, I must point out that in reality, the dog was on the plat: form when the train pulled in, and he had purchased a package of Sir Walter Raleigh tobacco and a box of matches. Cordially and sincerely yours, Joun PutNaM Marste, Chevy Chase, Md. Dear June: Won't yi rint a picture of your “Are You Sure?” editor after (or better, during) an afternoon of sitting on the withers mah horse? (Question 25, April issue.) Also, where does Pare Lorentz go to wait for the movies to catch up to him before he reviews them? They have all been long gone from here before JUDGE ar- rives with the reviews and the vaudeville comedians are not “just saying it” when they kid Kalamazoo. Yours truly, R. D. Maxwet., Kalamazoo, Mich. My dear Editor: Anent that article by Mr. Dreiser to the effect that we Americans are the most witty rascals on God’s green earth, and that there is absolutely no chance of our democracy giving way to a Hitler or a Mussolini, be- cause we are such jolly jokesters that we'd laugh a man on horseback down before he could get started. Well, let's just analyze some of this Yankee humor. Let's turn first to the radio. When Joe Penner said “Wanna buy a duck?” one hundred million natives of God's country went into an uproar of belly laughter heard around the world. The more often they heard the line repeated, the harder they laughed, and even today a fellow can get a pretty good local standing as a wit by repeat- ing it at a party while wearing his wife's hat. This brings us ¢o another great font of wit, the comic strip. By a regular perusal of the “funnies” it's possible to achieve a pretty fair knowledge of murder, kidnapping, mayhem and the operation of machine guns. Sydney Hoff once said that he reads the funnies avidly every day, looking forward to Sunday, when he can see the blood in full color. Then consider the more folksy sort of American humor. The good, clean fun we have throwing food and busting hotel furni- ture at business conventions and the grand time we Americans have marching in parades, decked out in purple bloomers. And aren't we world famous for our Ku Klux Klan, vigilantes, gangsters, Black Le- gionnaires, lynchers and kidnappers—fun- loving rascals all. In short, I think Mr. Dreiser is wrong on all counts. Even if we were the wittiest people in the world it wouldn't necessaril insure the preservation of democracy. Hold- ing fast to democracy takes more than a flair for wisecracking. It takes gallantry and cour- age. The Spanish seem to have these. Sincerely, BENJAMIN CHARLES, Topeka, Kansas, Dear Sir: Don Herold admits that Major Bowes is the most popular man on the air and then oes on to compare him with a sick horse. The sane and sensible readers of JupcE are the ones who buy the nationally adver- tised products. They are the ones who look forward to Thursday nights to hear the young people who are striving to make some- thing of themselves, and the Major has been a “Message from Heaven” to great numbers of them. Yours truly, READER, Cleveland, Ohio. Judge Established 1881 Monte Bourjatty, Editor Jack SHuTTLEWoRTH, Managing Editor upce, May, 1937. Volume 112. Whole No. 2702, Published monthly by Judge Magazine, Inc. Publication office, 404 ‘North Wesley’ Ave. Mount Morris, Ill. Editorial and executive ofices, 16 East 48th St. New York, Nc¥. Entered. as Second-Class Matter, July 26, 1953, at the Post Office at Mount Morris, {il under act of March 3, 1879. Copyright, 1937, by Judge Magazine, Ine, Subscription rate, United Siates and Canada, $1.50 a year; foreign, $2.50; ‘Monte Bourjaily, President and Elizabeth Young. Bourjaily, Vi Madeleine Brennan, Secretary; GC, Irwin, dr, Business Manager. Par attention is called to the fact that every article and picture appearing in Juoct is protected under the provisions of Section 3 of the Copyright Law of the U. S. President Letter from The Editors mM is the month of parades and we like to think of JupGE as a au of all great national parades. ‘or whether the marching be purely of the mind or actual marching along the highways, JuDGE is in step with the times—with a spring in its step. Actually, if Jupce's million read- ers were drawn up in ranks of four, they would form a solid column one hundred and twenty miles long. If they moved at the pace of an army on the march, it would take thirty hours of continuous marching for them all to pass the reviewing stand. urely, such a parade of like- minded people is a mighty force for. good in our land. It is a great re- sponsibility as well as a great privi- lege to talk to such a group of people. This month, the Senator-at-Large which proved so popular in our last issue, tells you just about what you'll fun up against in case you'd like to lay your problems before the Chief Executive. Until recently, we'd have been very keen on getting a White House interview, but since reading the Senator's—So You Want to Meet the President!"—we've cooled abit. And so, most likely, will you. A. D. Rothman is a Goa fearing man and a good citizen. He did, however, make one mistake. He wrote an article for our March issue called, “God Forgive Me—I Despise Women.” Since then we've been deluged with letters from outraged femmes demanding the whereabouts of the unlucky Rothman. All we can say is this. For each letter castigat- ing Mr. Rothman, we've had two ask. ing if he were available for dates. In this issue Charles B, Driscoll mentions casually the number of let- ters he receives asking for informa- tion about buried treasure. Mr. Dris- coll, if you didn’t know it, is rec- ognized as the leading authority on that subject, travels all over the world following treasure clues. It appears that the many Amer. icans living in Germany are going to be deprived of their monthly quota of humor from home. For JupGE has been barred from Hitlerland. Just why, no one knew, so we asked Secretary Hull to cable over and find out. It seems that our Dictator’s Number was the causa formalis. We console ourselves with the knowledge that the Germans are a fun-loving Pepe cones or later they'll come into the fold. —Tne Eprrors. comicbooks.com