Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, March 1921 · page 5 of 68
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang #18 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a humorous anecdote from *Captain Billy's Whiz Bang*, a post-WWI satirical magazine. The joke hinges on a double entendre about the word "naval." **The Setup:** A narrator, recently returned from war, brings an old sea captain friend (Jim Edmunds) to a formal party. They struggle to get Jim into proper formal wear—specifically, the tailor wants a low-cut vest with one button, but Jim insists on a two-button vest. **The Punchline:** When the hostess notices Jim's naval medal and says "I see you're naval," Jim thinks she's making an innuendo about his exposed chest/body. His retort—"if that danged tailor had his way, you could see a whole lot more"—suggests the tailor wanted to reveal even more of his body. **The Satire:** The humor mocks working-class masculinity and social pretension. Jim, uncomfortable in formal dress, misreads a polite remark as flirtation, revealing both his social awkwardness and his preoccupation with the tailor's unwanted alterations.
📄 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 3 Drippings From the Fawcett AT the close of the recent war, on my way home to the Whiz Bang farm, still in uniform, I chanced on an old sea captain friend of former days down on New York's Battery, old Jim Edmunds. Later in the day, returning to my hotel with old Jim in tow, I found an invitation to a formal dance and card party awaiting me for that evening. I hit upon the idea that it would be well to take Captain Edmunds along; that his stories of the sea dogs would prove entertaining to the guests. Accordingly I persuaded Jim, after much difficulty, to buy a dress suit for the occasion. The tailor couldn't convince Jim that the vest should be cut down, and with only one button, but finally they compromised on a two-button vest. All went well until we arrived at the hostess' home and I introduced Captain Edmunds to her. Jim had on a medal he won for saving a ship at sea, and my hostess, at first puzzled as to whether he was an ex-army captain or a sea skipper, noticed the medal, and exclaimed: "Captain, I see you're naval." The old man blushed and blurted out: "Yes, and if that danged tailor had his way, you could see a whole lot more."