Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, March 1921 · page 58 of 68
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang #18 — page 58: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains racist humor and Prohibition-era jokes typical of 1920s American satirical magazines. The first joke uses a racist caricature and dialect to mock a condemned Black prisoner with a punchline about ironic self-awareness. The remaining items satirize Prohibition (1920-1933), when alcohol sales were banned. "He Snuffs It" jokes about imagining illegal "hooch" (bootleg whiskey) since it's unavailable. The seasonal verse laments that weather prevents drinking homemade moonshine or beer. "A Hobo's Lament" plays on class irony—a wealthy person reduced to poverty. The dialect spellings ("suh," "jedge," "dat") and caricatured speech reflect the magazine's crude approach to humor. These jokes assumed readers found crude racial stereotypes and Prohibition-evasion amusing. Modern readers should recognize this reflects outdated, offensive attitudes normalized in early 20th-century popular entertainment.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
56 Captain Billy's Whiz Bang Jest Jokes and Jingles “Have you anything to say before leaving the stand?” asked the judge, after pronouncing a death sentence upon a negro murderer. “Yes, suh, jedge,” replied the prisoner. “I wants to say right here dat dis is gonna be a lesson to me.” * * * The melancholy days have come, The saddest of the year; It’s much too warm for moonshine, And too cold for darned near beer. * * * He Snuffs It Hashish Kid—“This is a grand town. Just im- agine a quart of hooch at 50 cents a bottle.” Thirsty Stranger—“S’sh! Where can I get it?” “I don’t know.” I said, “just imagine it.” * * * A Hobo’s Lament I said: Good man, can you help me, I’m a millionaire dead broke; But the poor old man was deaf and dumb, I could tell by the way he spoke.