Judge, 1928-12-08 · page 17 of 36
Judge — December 8, 1928 — page 17: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a satirical piece about Prohibition-era excess and lawlessness. The writer describes an imaginary island off New York where he's been elected president, claiming they've repealed 346 laws immediately. The satire targets: **The Figures:** Appears to reference actual Prohibition enforcers—notably "Mabel Willebrandt," the real Assistant U.S. Attorney General famous for aggressive Prohibition enforcement, whose "raid" is humorously repulsed. **The Joke:** The island operates as a lawless paradise with "cocktail hours" and suspended business rules—mocking both Prohibition's unpopularity and the era's general disregard for federal alcohol laws. The curfew and early morning regulations parody governmental control. **The Context:** This reflects 1920s public cynicism about Prohibition, portraying it as unenforceable and ridiculous. The cartoonish violence against Willebrandt and references to avoiding detection (disguises, shark attacks) mock the cat-and-mouse game between bootleggers and authorities. The accompanying cartoon (lower half) depicts a party scene supporting this hedonistic theme.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
A Letter from Pleasure Island Judge Folks, New York City. My Dear Judge Folks: Well, here we Island, and wh are are at Pleasure 1 dandy time in- having indeed. I sd president by a ma- jority of two votes and the en- closed picture shows me and my cabinet. We have alr 346 laws and torn them up. little Island has b lar that it is gettin and it has been keep out the unde Only movie re- viewer got in by pretending he was Jim Tully, which was very silly of him because we wouldn't let Jim Tully in Ane other time John Roa traton came sneaking up to the shore, disguised as a Mack Sennett bath- ing girl but, fortunately, a shark got him. Last week Mabel Wil- lebrandt and some of her nts, tried to make a raid on us, but dy passed Our ne so popu- quite crowded ry difficult to rables. yesterday a JUDGE they were repulsed with heavy losses. We discovered that she was ticklish, As you which w know, this Island, formerly Staten Island, is now about ten miles off the coast of New York. We can see the Statue of Liberty from our ecllar window. All the boats from Europe stop on their way by and send us messages in wine bottles. The messages are pasted on the outside. We have five- minute acroplane service between here and New York, but nobody seems to want to leave the Island and you can’t blame them, can you? Our new town clock is up and cd LWA T The curfew tolls at six in the morning and everybody has to be off the From four to seven in the afternoon is the cocktail hour and suspended. — I have a bill up before my cabinet right now to suspend business en tirely. Well, I guess that’s all Love to all the folks. —Jepor, Jn. is a great success. streets. business is the news. Some Best Steppers “Smooth — Baby” le Show). “Love Me or (Whoopee). “A Room With a View” (‘This Year of Grace). ‘Dance, Little Year of Grace). “Mary, Make Believe” (This ar of G “T've Got a Rainbow” ure Girl). (Princeton Leave Me” Lady” (‘This (Treas- ling I'm Falling” (Treas- ure Girl). comicbooks.com