Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, June 1921 · page 49 of 67
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang #21 — page 49: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page describes a fashionable boxing match event, likely from the 1920s. The satire targets high-society entertainment trends and celebrity culture. **Key figures mentioned:** - **Kid McCoy**: A real boxer/celebrity known for multiple marriages, mocked here for his ninth (or fifteenth?) divorce - **Tom Mix**: A famous Western film star who served as referee, drawing crowds willing to pay for his appearance - **Guy Price, Eddie Moriarity, H.M. Walker**: Newspaper sporting writers attending the event **The satire's targets:** The piece mocks the Alexandria-Alec club for starting this "fad" of boxing matches as society entertainment, attracting elite names and newspaper coverage. It jokes that newspaper writers covering fights also write "funny titles" for Semon and Lloyd (likely film comedians), yet maintain artificially serious demeanor. The underlying commentary: wealthy society has adopted boxing as trendy entertainment, turning athletic competition into celebrity spectacle, with film stars and journalists present primarily for social cachet rather than genuine interest.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
48 Captain Billy's Whiz Bang most of the women present, who shriek with delight and false alarm at the thud of brawny fists on hairy breasts and bloody noses. Whiz Bang is not long-haired, consequently can't be against a good boxing contest or a fight, whatever it is they call them. But one may entertain an opinion that some things were meant for men and if there is any- thing a man is better fitted for, or can do better, than women, for heaven's sake let him do it. The Alexandria-Alec, as it popularly is known, initiated the fad in this burg. The society editors must have been there for one thing, judging from elite gal- axy of names which appeared next day. Kid McCoy also was there, appearing somewhat better in his tux than most of the non-athletic looking gentlemen present. The Kid emerged recently from his ninth (or was it his fifteenth?) matrimonial experi- ment. He married a dancer of the films, a bare-footed one. But evidently she put on her shoes and walked out. The literary lights were somewhat in evidence. Guy Price, Eddie Moriarity and H. M. Walker, with the assumed or naturally bored air that seems to mark the popular newspaper sporting writers, were taking in the innovation or being innovated in the taking in, whichever it was. Moriarity and Walker said who won the fights and from their dour looks one would never judge they write funny titles for Semon and Lloyd. Tom Mix jumped into the ring as referee. Those who watched paid well for it. But there was dinner, of course, and a dance, thrown in.