Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Longing For A Change



Dear Judge: I’ve seen your reject forms,
     A thousand times or more;
In fact I’ve looked at them so oft
     My eyes and heart are sore.

Sometime, if you are so inclined,
     Or if I make a strike,
Please send an “accept” form – so I
     Can see what they are like!

June 23, 1913



Judge was a weekly satirical magazine published in the United States from 1881 to 1947. It was launched by artists who had seceded from its rival Puck. The founders included cartoonist James Albert Wales, dime novels publisher Frank Tousey and author George H. Jessop.
The first printing of Judge was on October 29, 1881, during the Long Depression. It was 16 pages long and printed on quarto paper. While it did well initially, it soon had trouble competing with Puck. William J. Arkell purchased the magazine in the middle 1880s. Arkell used his considerable wealth to persuade Eugene Zimmerman and Bernard Gillam to leave Puck. A supporter of the Republican Party, Arkell persuaded his cartoonists to attack the Democratic administration of Grover Cleveland. With G.O.P. aid, Judge boomed during the '80s and '90s, surpassing its rival publication in content and circulation. By the early 1890s, the circulation of the magazine reached 50,000.
Under the editorial leadership of Isaac Gregory, 1886–1901, Judge allied with the Republican Party and supported the candidacy of William McKinley largely through the cartoons of leading cartoonist Grant E. Hamilton. Circulation for Judge was about 85,000 in the 1890s. By the 1900s, the magazine had become successful, reaching a circulation of 100,000 by 1912.



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