Judge — February 23, 1929 — page 21: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page satirizes Fred Allen's comedy shorts called "Laugh from Kempf's" (all produced by Allen, per the title). The cartoon mocks the films' apparent lack of originality and quality. The central figures appear to be film industry executives or critics discussing Allen's work. Speech bubbles reveal their complaints: the title is unoriginal ("call her a b.v.d. girl"), the plots are tampered-with copies of existing material, and the films themselves lack creativity ("he just got word land was rented on property"). The left panel shows a towering stack of failed ideas or rejected scripts. The bottom scene depicts a chaotic film set, with someone exclaiming frustration about creating Christmas card ideas—suggesting the productions are thoughtlessly derivative. The satire targets both Allen's film ventures and broader Hollywood's recycling of tired comedic formulas during this era.