Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, January 1921 · page 45 of 68
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang #16 — page 45: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three separate humorous pieces typical of 1920s-era satirical magazines. The main poem contrasts primitive "jungle" life with modern civilization, lamenting that men once dominated women through physical force but now must court them financially, leaving them perpetually broke. The satire targets contemporary gender dynamics and male anxieties about changing social roles post-WWI. "Siam's National Anthem" parodies the Thai national anthem by rendering it as nonsensical English phonetics sung to "America"—a crude ethnic joke relying on the reader's inability to understand or respect foreign languages, common in period American humor. "A Regular Present" is a mild innuendo joke: a woman receives a car as a Christmas gift, and the implication (deliberately coy about "what she had in her stocking") suggests she received something sexual or scandalous—likely referencing the 1920s "flapper" culture of looser sexual mores that shocked conservative audiences. All three pieces reflect period anxieties about modernity, sexuality, and cultural hierarchies.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang 43 Or loafed 'mid the balms of the fronded palms— Wish we could do it now! And Oh! what beautiful years were those When we learned the use of speech, When our lives were stilled and our senses thrilled As we chattered with some dear peach! And that was a million years ago; Years that have fled away, Yet here tonight in the glaring light We sit in a wild cafe. And your thoughts are deep as a buckwheat cake, Your peroxide hair is great; Though your heart is cold and your age is old, You love to hesitate. Once we howled through the jungle wastes. With a club each won his mate. And she had to work, nor could she shirk, Lest a blow would be her fate. But now we go on our bended knees To a girl we would make our wife, And she keeps us broke until we croak— Alas for the modern life! * * * * * * So as we dance at luncheon here, Missing each savory dish, I'm feeling blue, for I wish that you Were a Tadpole and I a Fish! * * * Siam's National Anthem (To the Tune of "America.") Ova tannas Siam Geeva tannas Siam Ova tannas Sucha tammas Siam Inocan gif fa tam Osucha nas Siam Osucha nas. * * A Regular Present She wouldn't tell what Santa brought; We hope this don't sound shocking— But when she got in her brand new car, We saw what she had in her stocking.