Judge, 1929-04-06 · page 13 of 36
Judge — April 6, 1929 — page 13: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page from *Judge* magazine contains satirical humor from the 1920s Prohibition era. **"We Can't Imagine"** lists absurdities—things contemporary readers would find impossible: - Douglas Fairbanks (silent film star) making a movie without stunts - Prohibition actually being enforced (it wasn't effectively) - President Coolidge writing for pulp magazines - NYC Police Commissioner Grover Whalen without his distinctive mustache - Mayor Jimmy Walker actually resting during illness **"Movie Proverbs"** mocks cinema conventions: theme songs, usher uniforms, theater darkness enabling audience chatter, and symphony orchestras' theatrical pretension. **The cartoon** shows a "strap-hanger" (subway commuter) deliberately exposing his son to crowded public transit to "harden" him—satirizing tough parenting and urban life's discomforts. The overall tone is humorous complaint about modern life's inconveniences and the entertainment industry's excesses during the Jazz Age.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
JUDGE es <3 = —=—= Cunsust—Thank gaid, I'm too poor to buy much of this! We Can’t Imagine Douglas Fairbanks making a picture without a single jump in it. Prohibition being enforced. Coolidge writing for True Stories. Grover Whalen without his mustache, Mayor Walker curing a cold at the City Hz A sound movie without a theme song. A trolley conductor taking it zood-naturedly when you hand him a twenty-dollar bill to change. Peggy Joyce making a pur- chase at the jewelry counter at Woolworth’s. A home without a can-opener. A Scotchman losing a golf ball. A drug store all out of sand- wiches. A laundry sewing the buttons back on, R. C. O'Brien Movie Proverbs The tighter the uniform, the stiffer the usher. The longer the picture, familiar the theme son The nearer the center of the row, the fewer the disturbances. The darker the theatre, the more useless the prog the more The bigger the symphony. or- chestra, the longer the conductor's hair. The nearer the sereen, the stiffer the neck. The less talk in the picture, the more in the audience. —R. C. O'Birres The strap-hanger brings up his son so he'll be hardened to it. 11 comicbooks.com