Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, March 1921 · page 52 of 68
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang #18 — page 52: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page from the satirical magazine contains three separate humor pieces typical of early 20th-century American comedy. **"Pat's Narrow Escape"** is a marital infidelity joke: two mill workers arrange to work alternately, but Pat rushes back after discovering his boss dining alone with his wife at midnight—the implication being an affair. The humor relies on the awkward situation and Pat's narrow escape from witnessing something compromising. **The poetry sections** are bawdy parodies of nursery rhymes and folk verse, using double entendre (Gretchen's "doughnuts," the speeding couple "beating it away"). **"Foolish Bunk"** is a brief joke where a young man, torn between a phrenology lesson and meeting his girlfriend, lets her decide by coin flip—the joke being that she tells him to flip a coin, suggesting the decision is trivial or that she's dismissing his indecision as foolish. The recurring theme is sexual innuendo and marital/romantic complications, reflecting the magazine's adult-oriented, cheeky humor style.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
50 Captain Billy’s Whiz Bang Pat’s Narrow Escape Pat and Mike, working on a night shift in a mill, decide that their work can be done by one, and arranged that they would alternate on the job after the boss went home at midnight. The first night it was Pat’s turn to go home. A half hour later he surprised Mike by rushing into the mill and hurrying into his overalls. “Mike,” he exclaimed, “I nearly got caught. I was just about to walk into my home when I saw, through the window, the boss eating a midnight supper with my wife.” * * * Here’s to Gretchen in the kitchen Frying doughnuts in the grease, With her lover bending o’er her, Coaxing, begging for a piece Of the doughnuts in the grease. * * * Little Miss Muffet, who sat on a tuffet, Eating her lunch one day, When a speeder espied her and drew up beside her, And both of ’em beat it away. * * * Foolish Bunk We cannot see any head or tail to this story, but as my good friend Neely sent it in, I’ll publish it for his benefit.—CAPTAIN BILLY. A young man had an appointment for a lesson in phrenology and also an appointment to meet his sweetheart. He was undecided which to keep, when the girl telephoned. Learning of his difficulties, she asked him if he had a coin in his pocket. He replied affirmatively. “Well, flip it,” she said.