Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, January 1921 · page 61 of 68
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang #16 — page 61: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains advice-column humor from an early 20th-century American satirical magazine. Each item offers mock-serious counsel responding to reader queries with witty, often risqué commentary on social conventions and dating behavior. The satire targets 1920s etiquette and morality: Rhoda gets warned police won't respect her fashion choices; Ima Flirt is told neighbors can see through drawn shades during romantic encounters; Mable is advised to "make good" with boys on rainy days, with a joke about receiving silk stockings (period slang suggesting impropriety). Other items mock courtship pretensions—the sixty-year-old millionaire paradox, "free love" as expensive, proper dancing distance from another man's wife. Jacqueline's illegible handwriting joke is straightforward. The humor reflects Jazz Age anxieties about changing sexual mores, women's increasing independence, and class distinctions—all wrapped in supposedly innocent advice-column format.
📄 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 59 Rhoda—Yes. You are old enough to wear what you please. That is as far as your parents are con- cerned. But the police will not respect your age. * * * Madge—The Doctor was correct. After an opera- tion for appendicitis the cut shouldn’t show. * * * Alden M.—Can give you no advice about free love. Always thought love very expensive. * * * Hazel—Do not marry the sixty year old million- aire. He’s too old and too young to bring you happi- ness. * * * Jacqueline—Jackie, for short, you said you wanted to write me the worst way. You did, I can hardly read your letter. Try again. * * * Ima Flirt—Yes, love is blind, as the old saying goes—but the neighbors are not. Pull down your shades after this. * * * Mable—If the day be muddy and the boys will stand on the corner it’s up to you to make good. Will speak to the cashier about sending you silk stockings. * * * Jim—If you are dancing with another man’s wife it is proper to let him see light between you.