Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, June 1921 · page 56 of 67
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang #21 — page 56: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a humor column of fake reader submissions with punny pseudonyms and double-entendre jokes typical of 1920s satirical magazines. The humor relies on wordplay and risqué innuendo: - **Mickey Finn** jokes about girls wearing blacksmith aprons as bathing suits (a crude reference) - **Howe Hevah** makes a pun: "The Skin Game" isn't a play but what beauty doctors practice - **Mac** suggests bushel baskets for finger bowls (mocking pretentious etiquette) - **Shimmy Dancer** references the scandalous "shimmy" dance while threatening to undress - **Kitty Korn** contains a pun on her father "Pop Korn" (popcorn) The column parodies advice columns and reader mail while delivering risqué humor about contemporary fads (the shimmy dance, beauty treatments) and social affectations. The fake names are themselves jokes—transparent puns the editor creates rather than genuine submissions.
📄 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 55 Our Rural Mail Box Smokehouse Friends—Ye editor has received many calls for the following poems, and would appreciate receipt of correct copies of them: “Johnnie and Frankie,” “Arkansaw” and the prose of the Irishman lecturing with lantern slides the story of Cleopatra. * * * Anna Dine—Snow again, Anna, I don’t get your drift. * * * Mickey Finn—There is nothing to the rumor that the girls will wear blacksmiths’ aprons for bathing suits this summer. * * * Howe Hevah—“The Skin Game” is not the name of a play. It is a profession indulged in by beauty doctors. * * * Mac—If the brass finger bowls are not large enough, would suggest that bushel baskets be used. * * * Shimmy Dancer—If you do, we’ll take off our jumper and overhalls. * * * Kitty Korn—I can’t place you, but I knew your father, Pop Korn.