Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, May 1921 · page 15 of 68
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang #20 — page 15: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains no illustrations—it's purely text presenting satirical aphorisms from *Captain Billy's Whiz Bang*, a popular 1920s American humor magazine. The "philosophy" consists of cynical one-liners mocking Prohibition (then in effect), marriage, morality, and human nature. Key targets include: - **Prohibition**: Sarcastically equating it with temporary moral enthusiasm ("morality on a jag") - **Gender relations**: Women portrayed as inherently pursuing men; marriage depicted as transforming male declarations of love into cursing - **Hypocrisy**: Virtue is "seldom advertised," implying people hide moral failings - **Human nature**: More authentically revealed in crude contexts (dog fights) than religious settings The humor relies on cynicism, double meanings (whiskey being "chaste"), and absurdist comparisons (horses and bits). This reflects 1920s post-WWI disillusionment and anti-establishment sentiment characteristic of *Whiz Bang's* irreverent satirical style.
📄 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 13 Whiz Bang Filosophy Prohibition is morality on a jag. * * * A good woman is chaste—so is good whiskey. * * * Virtue, although often lost, is seldom advertised for. * * * After man came woman and she has been after him ever since. * * * A woman who can love but once is pretty badly stuck on herself. * * * It may be peculiar, but a horse can eat best without a bit in his mouth. * * * Man is made of dust; along comes the water wagon of fate and his name is mud. * * * Before a man marries, he swears to love; after marriage, he loves to swear. * * * Human nature shows to better advantage at a dog fight than at a prayer meeting.