A complete issue · 28 pages · 1917
Judge — October 20, 1917
# "A 'Rag' Doll" This October 1917 *Judge* cover depicts a woman in a pinstriped jacket holding a ukulele, captioned "A 'Rag' Doll." The satire likely plays on the simultaneous popularity of two musical trends: "rag" music (ragtime and jazz) and the ukulele craze sweeping America in the 1910s. The woman's fashionable, somewhat masculine pinstriped attire suggests the "modern woman" of the era—independent and culturally engaged with contemporary entertainment. The title's double meaning—conflating the woman with both "rag" music and a plaything—may mock how popular culture commodified and trivialized women, reducing them to fashionable objects rather than serious participants. The ukulele, still novel to American audiences, symbolizes the era's musical modernism and cultural borrowing from Hawaiian culture.
# Judge Magazine, October 20, 1917 This page is primarily **advertising and table of contents** rather than political cartoons. The left side features diamond ring advertisements from Barnard & Co., and an ad for Eugene Zimmerman's instructional cartooning book, "Cartoons and Caricatures: on Making the World Laugh" ($1.00). The right side lists the magazine's contents for this issue, including various humorous articles and illustrations—typical of Judge's satirical format. Given the **October 1917 date**, this falls during America's involvement in World War I, as evidenced by mentions of "War Cartoons from Abroad" and "Fun from the Fighting Men" in the contents, though specific political figures or satire aren't visible on this particular page spread.
# "Slipping" - Judge Magazine Cartoon This political cartoon depicts a wizard-like figure in a pointed hat inscribing letters "S.P.R." on a large spherical object (likely representing the moon or a celestial body). The figure appears to be "slipping"—losing grip or control—as suggested by the title and the precarious positioning. The "S.P.R." likely refers to the Society for Psychical Research, an organization that investigated supernatural phenomena and spiritualism. The cartoon satirizes spiritualists or their advocates as charlatans attempting to claim or mark territory through fraudulent supernatural claims. The figure's unstable position suggests their efforts are failing or their credibility is slipping away. This reflects late 19th/early 20th-century skepticism toward spiritualism movements.
