Judge — January 24, 1920

# Analysis This page is primarily **advertising** for Judge magazine's art print department rather than satirical content. The heading "How to Keep Cheerful" promotes humorous art prints available for purchase from Judge's archives. The six illustrated cartoons shown—"No Man's Land," "The Curse of Drink," "Captain Kid," "A Baby Bond," "A Present from Her Sailor Friend," and "Steady Work"—appear to be representative examples of Judge's satirical covers, likely from the early 20th century. The titles suggest social commentary on topics like war, alcohol, relationships, and labor, though specific historical references are unclear without additional context. The advertisement encourages readers to order these prints (25 cents each or $1 for five) for home decoration, positioning humor as a form of household cheer.

# "Out of the Mire" — Judge Magazine, January 24, 1920 This political cartoon depicts a large bird (likely an eagle, symbolizing America) struggling to lift itself from muddy, mired ground. The drawing is titled "Out of the Mire," suggesting America's difficulty escaping a troubled situation. Given the January 1920 date, this almost certainly references post-World War I America—the nation's struggle to recover from the war's aftermath, economic upheaval, and social turmoil including labor unrest and the first Red Scare. The "mire" represents these interconnected crises threatening national stability. The straining bird suggests optimism about eventual escape from these problems, though the effort required is depicted as considerable and difficult.

# "The Social Maps Also Are Changing" This cartoon satirizes changing social class dynamics and women's labor. A well-dressed woman stands outside a domestic interior, confronting a maid about missing laundry pickup on Tuesday. The maid responds that she's been "waiting and waiting" for pay, then states she can "leave off waitin'" because "We Make and little Tim bringin' $14 into the flat every Sat'dy night I'm a-sendin' me own wash out." The satire critiques shifting economic power: a working-class maid now earns enough household income (from family members' wages) to outsource her own laundry—reversing traditional servant-employer relationships. The title suggests social hierarchies are reorganizing through industrialization and women's economic participation, threatening genteel domestic arrangements.

# "What Are the Wild Movies Saying?" - Judge Magazine Analysis This page satirizes silent film conventions of the 1920s era. James Montgomery Flagg critiques how filmmakers adapt literary classics like "The Garden of Eden" for screen, claiming the cinema distorts the original story through exaggerated visual gags and intertitles. The sketches show how a simple narrative becomes melodramatic on film—a character picking an apple becomes slapstick comedy, meaningful glances turn into overwrought pantomime. The satirical point: silent movies, dependent on physical comedy and obvious subtitles, cannot capture subtle literary nuance. The cartoon mocks cinema's tendency toward sensationalism and broad humor when adapting serious source material, a common artistic complaint about early filmmaking.

# Analysis of Judge Magazine Page This page critiques silent film conventions and their absurdities. The main cartoon depicts a nearly-nude male statue labeled "RUM" being dressed by a woman in formal attire—satirizing how filmmakers add clothes to classical sculptures to avoid censorship while depicting nudity elsewhere. The article mocks Hollywood's hypocritical standards: films show violence, drunkenness, and scantily-clad women, yet censor classical art. It ridicules specific movie tropes—heroes and heroines appearing only at golf's first tee, exaggerated proportions in paintings, unrealistic food scenes (grapefruit, milk, biscuits). The bottom illustration shows golfers, illustrating the text's point about golf-course scenes being oddly common in films. The satire targets Hollywood's arbitrary moral standards and lazy, repetitive filmmaking formulas.

# Analysis This page critiques Hollywood directors' lazy portrayal of artists in films. The text argues that while directors meticulously research medical scenes to avoid criticism from doctors, they carelessly depict artists because audiences supposedly don't notice or care about accuracy. The example given: a poor fisherman's crude wooden dolls are discovered by a wealthy "Patron of the Arts," who brings him to New York. Within three months, this uncouth thirty-year-old becomes fashionable, sculpts in a tuxedo, and wins Metropolitan Museum recognition—despite his statue being obviously amateurish ("made by the property man"). The satire targets: (1) movie producers' contempt for audience intelligence; (2) the absurdity of overnight artistic success based on patronage rather than talent; (3) filmmakers' indifference to authenticity when depicting artists versus other professions. The "Polack" ethnic slur reflects the era's casual prejudice. The cartoon "The Professor's Love-Story" (bottom) appears unrelated to the main article's theme.

# Analysis of Judge Magazine Page This page contains satirical commentary on early cinema, particularly dog-themed comedies that were popular in silent film. The main article (credited to Pace Bailey) mocks low-quality movie comedies featuring dogs. It sarcastically suggests that respectable Boston Bulls and St. Bernards are actually writing these film scenarios—but out of shame, they hide their involvement and disguise themselves as Pomeranians to avoid recognition. The joke critiques both the poor quality of these animal-based comedies and the absurdity that dogs themselves wouldn't want credit for them. The surrounding captioned cartoons offer lighter humor: "Thirsty Householder" jokes about perspective, while the hunting anecdotes mock incompetent sportsmen whose dogs retrieve useless objects instead of game. "Their Ordeal" depicts rural parents forcing children to study Sunday School lessons. The overall point: satire of lowbrow entertainment and the proliferation of poorly-made dog comedies in early cinema, presented with Judge magazine's characteristic irreverent humor.

# Political Cartoon Analysis This cartoon depicts a giant machine in Washington dispensing materials from different U.S. regions ("From the Middle West," "From the Lost," "From the South," "From the West") into buckets labeled as such. The machine shoots these combined resources toward Europe. The satire criticizes American foreign aid or military support to Europe, suggesting Washington is mechanically funneling America's regional resources to benefit European interests. The figure climbing the machine appears to represent a politician or government official operating this system. The cartoon likely critiques U.S. interventionism or aid policy—suggesting resources extracted from American regions are being redistributed abroad rather than kept domestic. The "machine" metaphor implies this is an impersonal, automatic government process operating without consideration for American needs.

# Post Card Probloid No. 6: A Social Etiquette Puzzle This page presents a satirical "Probloid"—a social dilemma contest—by humorist Gelett Burgess. The scenario involves a divorced man attending a theater where his current wife (No. 2) sits nearby, and his ex-wife unexpectedly appears. The joke targets the awkwardness of modern social situations where etiquette fails. The two small photographs show a movie director demanding retakes of an "ideal scene" in Arcadia—likely satirizing how cinema manufactures artificial perfection, contrasting with real life's messy complications. The satire mocks upper-class anxiety about propriety and public appearances. The solution (readers could submit answers for prizes) exposes how people navigate embarrassing social encounters through manufactured politeness. This reflects early-20th-century concerns about divorce's social stigma and the tension between authentic feeling and performative civility in public settings.

# "Weariness" by Walt Mason This satirical piece attacks reform movements and uplift campaigns of the early 20th century. Mason's narrator—representing the common working man—complains about: 1. **Uplift writers and reformers** who preach morality from comfortable positions while doing no actual labor, yet earn substantial fees for their sermons. 2. **Prohibition advocates** (the "brown bottle" and "hydrant juice" references) who strip away pleasures like tobacco and alcohol in the name of moral improvement. 3. **Charity solicitors** ("horse-leech daughters") who endlessly demand donations for various causes and "drives," especially after people already sacrificed during wartime. The cartoon illustrates these targets: preachy figures bombarding citizens with moral demands and charity appeals. Mason argues that the righteous have exhausted the public's goodwill through constant hectoring and financial extraction. The central complaint: tired people deserve rest, not endless exhortations to give more money or live more morally.

# Analysis of Judge Magazine Page This page from Judge magazine contains three separate humorous stories satirizing American social behavior circa the 1920s-30s. **"Who Seeks Advice Seeks Praise"** (main story): A man visits the office seeking car advice from the narrator. The satire exposes how people don't actually want honest opinions—they want validation. William systematically dismisses each counterargument, ultimately buying a Whoziss car and crediting the narrator's "advice," when the narrator never actually recommended it. The joke: advice-seekers use advisors as props to justify pre-made decisions. **"The Shoo on the Other Foot"**: A minister won't ask a mother to leave during her baby's crying, claiming it doesn't disturb him. She replies that *he* disturbs the child. The reversal mocks sanctimonious self-sacrifice. **"Linguisticality"**: A returning WWI soldier uses Yiddish slang ("isch ka bibble"—roughly "I don't care"), frustrating his mother's attempts at a fancy homecoming dinner. This satirizes generational/cultural divide and changing American identity post-war. All three stories mock pretense and self-deception in everyday life.

# "Unwisdom of the Wise" - Judge Magazine Story This is the opening of a serialized short story rather than political satire. The illustration shows a doctor visiting an elegant woman (Mrs. Lander) in her boudoir, with a notably intelligent parrot present. The "joke" in the title suggests irony: despite the doctor's wisdom and long acquaintance with Mrs. Lander since her birth, his actual advice—particularly regarding her marriage—proved embarrassing or misguided. The parrot, described as learning English "sometimes too rapidly," appears to symbolize observation and wisdom, perhaps outmatching the human characters. The story appears to explore romantic or marital complications through the lens of professional medical consultation. The satirical point likely critiques doctors overstepping into personal advice, or the gap between perceived wisdom and actual judgment in matters of the heart. Without subsequent pages, the full resolution remains unclear.