James
Wales
worked as a cartoonist for Joseph Keppler
and Puck Magazine. In 1881 he left
the magazine after a quarrel with Keppler and established the rival
publication, The Judge. He brought
with him Livingston Hopkins, who was
a talented artist and writer.
The first edition of the sixteen page quarto appeared on 29th October,
1881. It sold well at first but it was very much like Puck
Magazine, and found it difficult to compete with its more
established rival. James Wales had difficulty
making the magazine a financial success and in 1885 sold it to William
J. Arkell.
Arkell used his considerable wealth to persuade Eugene
Zimmerman and Bernard Gillam to leave
Puck Magazine. A supporter of the
Republican Party, Arkell persuaded
his cartoonists to attack the Democratic
administration of Grover Cleveland.
By the early 1890s the circulation of the magazine reached 50,000.
In the early 1900s Art Young, Richard
Outcault and James Montgomery Flagg
all became regular contributors to The Judge.
Circulation continued to grow and by 1912 reached 100,000 and had
overtaken its main rival, Puck. The
Depression had a bad impact on sales.
The price was reduced to ten cents but when that did not solve the
problem and in 1932 it became a monthly.
Puck Magazine (29th October, 1881)
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