Judge — August 30, 1919

# "Ain't Angie Awful!" - Judge Magazine Advertisement This page is primarily an advertisement for Judge magazine's serialized satire "Ain't Angie Awful!" by Gelett Burgess, illustrated by Rea Irvin. The cartoon depicts a man in a checkered suit confronting a voluptuous woman, with the caption "She lurked among the hardware." The satire mocks popular "sex serial" stories appearing in contemporary magazines, which the ad claims are often mild despite sensational marketing. Judge positions itself as offering genuinely daring, witty content compared to competitors. The ad emphasizes that Judge costs only 10 cents and appears weekly, with readable content readers "won't have to read between" the lines to understand—a jab at other magazines' pretentious or obscure storytelling. The overall tone satirizes both the prevalence of sex-themed fiction and the magazines that promote them.

# "The Living 'I'" - Judge Magazine, August 30, 1919 This political cartoon depicts a massive, looming figure of an elderly man's head atop a classical pedestal, dominating Washington D.C.'s landscape below (identifiable by the Capitol and Washington Monument). The towering "I" represents egotistical self-importance. The caption "The Living 'I'" satirizes an authoritative political figure—likely President Woodrow Wilson, given the 1919 date coinciding with post-WWI treaty negotiations and Wilson's dominating influence over American politics. The cartoon critiques Wilson's perceived arrogance and outsized ego during this period, suggesting his personal ambitions overshadowed national interests. The monumental scale emphasizes how one individual's self-regard was portrayed as towering over the nation itself.

# Ladies' Fancy Work This illustration by Walter de Maris depicts a woman standing in a cornfield, looking upward. The title "Ladies' Fancy Work" is a satirical reference to genteel needlework and decorative crafts traditionally associated with upper-class women. The joke likely mocks the contrast between delicate, ornamental "fancy work" and agricultural labor—suggesting that women's actual work in farming or fieldwork constitutes their "fancy work." The woman's pose and expression suggest either aspiration, exhaustion, or resignation to farm labor. Without additional context, the exact satirical target remains unclear, but the piece appears to comment on women's labor, class expectations, or rural life during the period Judge was published.

# "Ain't Angie Awful!" - Judge Magazine Satire This page satirizes Angela Bish through a serial fiction titled "Being the Love Affairs of Angela Bish," illustrated by Rea Irvin. The narrative mocks a woman characterized as perpetually unlucky in romance and marriage—repeatedly "thrown down by men" despite being "fair" and possessing useful domestic skills like gum-chewing. The embedded cartoon depicts a fireman at a furnace, captioned "Like a Fireman Feeding a Furnace, His Knife Went Up and Down." This appears to illustrate Angela's misadventures with yet another male figure. The satire targets prevailing gender stereotypes: women's limited value beyond matrimony, their supposed emotional volatility, and the era's cynical view of women's romantic prospects. The humor relies on schadenfreude—finding entertainment in a woman's romantic failures.

# Analysis This page contains a short story titled "She Had Grown on Him Like a Wart or a Bad Habit" rather than a political cartoon. The illustration shows a couple in an intimate moment—a man in formal attire leaning toward a woman in an elaborate dress. The story's narrative concerns a romantic relationship, with the accompanying illustration serving as decorative accompaniment to the fiction. The title suggests comedic commentary on how relationships develop through habit or familiarity rather than grand passion. This is **not political satire** but rather humorous romantic fiction typical of Judge magazine's miscellaneous content. Without clearer identifying details in the image, specific character identities remain unclear, though the piece appears to mock conventional romantic expectations of the era.

# "The Latest Strike" — Judge Magazine Satire This cartoon satirizes Soviet-style labor organizing among schoolchildren. The title references the communist "Soviets" (workers' councils) that existed in Russia, particularly prominent during the 1917-1920s period. The joke: the "President of the Students' and Junior Citizens' Soviet" is formally demanding that schools provide "Adding and Calculating Machines" during arithmetic lessons—a mock-serious labor strike demand by children. The satire targets two things: (1) the perceived absurdity of Soviet communism and its organizational methods, and (2) growing concerns about radical ideology influencing American youth. By depicting children as mini-communists making formal demands, Judge mocks both communism as inherently childish and fears about communist infiltration of American institutions. The accompanying stories appear to be unrelated comic fiction filler typical of Judge's format.

# Analysis for Modern Readers This is a humorous article by Henry Irving Shumway satirizing various "accidents" and their "treatments"—but the "accidents" are actually common frustrations of the era. The satire targets: 1. **Rising food prices**: "Vertigo" from learning sirloin steak costs, treated by Congress reassurance 2. **Housing crisis**: Multiple conditions caused by landlords—rent increases, threatened eviction, and paradoxically, *not* raising rent (deemed "fatal") 3. **Auto repair costs**: "Heart attack" from reading service station bills, treated by taking the patient to a stable and making horse sounds 4. **Alcohol Prohibition**: "Hysterics" from finding hidden liquor—treated by gathering men with music (implying drinking) The accompanying illustrations include a Rip Van Winkle reference and a diner scene about poor meat quality. The article mocks post-WWI economic anxieties—inflation, housing shortages, automobile expenses, and Prohibition—by presenting them as medical emergencies requiring absurd treatments. The humor lies in the exaggeration of ordinary hardships.

# Analysis for Modern Readers This page contains three distinct satirical pieces from Judge magazine: **"A Dead Language"** (cartoon, lower left): A man reads absurdly titled sheet music ("Rushing the Duck," "Scuttle of Suds," etc.)—likely mocking the era's popular song titles as nonsensical or lowbrow. **"When the Period Craze Reaches the Automobile Industry"** (top illustration): A decorative automobile filled with figures. "Period craze" likely refers to 1920s fashion for historical revival styles; the satire suggests applying this trend absurdly to cars. **"Evils of Prohibition"** (text section): Two editors joke about Prohibition's impact on high-society events. The Sporting Editor quips he can't distinguish guests from waiters anymore—previously, drunk waiters stood out, but now everyone is sober. This mocks Prohibition's failure to stop drinking at wealthy gatherings. **"Hard Lines"** (poem): A housewife complains about overcrowded storage—every space filled with "Jack's bottles of booze"—satirizing how Prohibition-era citizens illegally hoarded alcohol, consuming household space. All three pieces mock Prohibition's ineffectiveness and social hypocrisy.

# Charlie Responds in Humanities Name This is a narrative comic strip (numbered 1-10) featuring a character named Charlie (likely a dog or animal character, based on the black silhouette figure). The plot concerns a house fire and rescue efforts. The satire targets bureaucratic absurdity: a woman must obtain a "permit to pray" before entering a burning house to save her child. Subsequent panels mock red tape further—a "deputy fireman" is appointed, characters debate procedure while the child remains in danger, and officials obsess over permits and proper channels rather than acting. The title "Heroes are Made, Not Born" ironically suggests that heroism requires bureaucratic approval. The humor derives from the obvious conflict between life-threatening emergency and administrative procedure, critiquing how government regulation and formality can paralyze practical action. The reference to "asbestos" in later panels appears to relate to fire-safety regulations, though the exact context is unclear from the image alone.

# "Stung Again" - A Satire on Financial Fraud This piece satirizes the vulnerability of ordinary people to con artists and financial schemes. The illustration shows a banker at his locked bank door meeting a well-dressed "oily faker" (con man) on the street, with a capitol building visible—suggesting corruption reaches institutional levels. The story, by Walt Mason, describes how gullible citizens are repeatedly swindled: some invest in fake gold ore or oil wells, lose everything, and end up in the poorhouse. The narrator himself plans to deposit savings with a banker for safety, but encounters a smooth-talking faker in the marketplace who convinces him into a fraudulent scheme, leaving him with "heated air" instead of wealth. The satire's point: both bankers and street-level con artists exploit the working class equally. The inevitable destination for victims is the poorhouse—a damning commentary on economic vulnerability and institutional failure to protect ordinary people.

# Explanation for Modern Readers This Judge magazine page contains three separate satirical pieces: 1. **"Its Malevolence"** (top): A rural dialect story mocking Prohibition-era "bone-dry" (illegal) liquor. The joke: bootleg alcohol causes violence—a man threatens another over a debt, sparking a massive brawl at a dance that destroys the venue. The satire criticizes both the poor quality of illegal alcohol and suggests Prohibition itself creates disorder. 2. **"No Time to Lose"** (middle): A customer urgently buys the poem "Woodman, Spare That Tree" to mail to the "ex-Kaiser" (Germany's Wilhelm II, defeated in WWI). The satire: the poem's plea to preserve trees is being sent to someone perceived as ruthlessly destructive, implying the ex-Kaiser would destroy forests. It's post-WWI mockery of German militarism. 3. **"By Way of Reward"** (bottom): A wife complains she can't keep cooks; her husband suggests offering incentives like he does for employees (a gold stripe after five years). The joke satirizes gender dynamics—wives lack management skills with domestic help compared to husbands' business practices.

# "Quite Regular" by J.A. Waldron This is a romantic story illustrated by Lawrence Fellows, not a political cartoon. It depicts a post-WWI scenario: Lieutenant Tom Winton returns from France and delivers a letter from his friend Jack Haggin (stationed in Coblenz, Germany) to Jack's sweetheart, Lucille Chalmer. The plot's tension centers on Jack's unexpected proposal—marriage by proxy, with Tom serving as stand-in bridegroom. Tom's embarrassment and hurried departure suggest he harbors romantic feelings for Lucille himself, though he's bound by loyalty to deliver Jack's letter. The "satire" is gentle social comedy about wartime complications: soldiers separated from sweethearts, the awkwardness of romantic intermediaries, and unspoken affections. The title "Quite Regular" likely refers to the proposal's formality despite its unusual circumstances. This reflects post-WWI popular fiction's interest in soldiers' romantic entanglements.