Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, June 1921 · page 43 of 67
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang #21 — page 43: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two satirical pieces from Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, a 1920s humor magazine known for ribald jokes. **"Past, Present and Future"** mocks women's fashion and propriety across generations. It compares a girl from a century ago who couldn't properly wear a crinoline (exposing her legs inadvertently) with modern women in shorter skirts who similarly expose their limbs while running for buses. The joke is that despite changing fashions and moral instruction from "Grundies and Prims" (prudish authority figures), women continue to reveal themselves—and the poem sarcastically suggests even a rainstorm won't help. It's a cheeky commentary on the "flapper" era's shorter hemlines, which scandalized conservatives. **"The Pleasure Pier"** describes stumbling upon couples engaged in illicit romantic encounters under a California pier at midnight. The speaker flees upon realizing he's not alone, implying sexual activity. It's a knowing joke about Prohibition-era moral hypocrisy and secret liaisons. Both pieces reflect 1920s anxieties about changing sexual mores and women's liberation.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
42 Captain Billy's Whiz Bang Past, Present and Future You've heard the tale of Daphne of a hundred years ago? You haven't? Well, I'll tell you. It's a thing you ought to know. Though pretty smart at most things (for her age was seventeen) She didn't know the proper way to wear a crinoline. For instance, when the winter winds came tearing through the town She made the most ridiculous attempts to hold it down; And thus it was that often as she tacked across the street The people got a view of her that wasn't only feet. You've heard, of course, the story of the Daphne of today? You haven't? Well, I'll tell you. It's funny in a way. In spite of all the teachings of the Grundies and the Prims, She hasn't yet discovered how to cover up her limbs. For instance, though the crinoline perplexes her no more, She's in the same predicament, precisely, as before. And when she's sprinting for a bus, with little time to lose, The people get a view of her that isn't only shoes. I hate, of course, to moralize, to lecture or to prate, But troubles have their ending if the troubled only wait; And probably, if Daphne's good, and patient as a saint, The skirt will pass to savages, and she will have their paint; And that will keep its proper place, whate'er her attitude, And satisfy the conscience of the most exacting prude— Unless a rainstorm comes along that nothing does by halves, And then we'll get a view of her that won't be only calves! —A. B. M. *** The Pleasure Pier (Ocean Park, California) One night as I strolled on the sand, The hour of twelve was near, By chance my wandering footsteps led Me underneath the pier. Ye Gods! the people I saw that night, As I strolled along my way; Behind each piling they 'rose like ghosts And silently faded away. I saw there men, and women, too; And friends I held most dear, And I turned and fled (for I wasn't alone), As I strolled beneath the pier.