Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, July 1921 · page 19 of 68
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang #22 — page 19: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a short comedic story (not a cartoon) from *Captain Billy's Whiz Bang*, a humor magazine known for risqué content. The piece depicts a young man in an embarrassing public situation: he's holding an unconscious or limp woman whose clothing progressively falls away, leaving her in lingerie as an amused crowd gathers and watches. The "dilemma" is the protagonist's mortification—he's blushing deeply, flustered, clutching his collar—while being observed by snickering onlookers. The humor relies on the tension between his obvious distress and the sexually suggestive scenario: a partially undressed woman in his arms in public. This reflects 1920s-era "spicy" magazine humor, where sexual situations presented as accidental or comedic (rather than explicit) provided titillation within acceptable publishing bounds. The satire targets male embarrassment and social propriety rather than any specific political or social issue.
📄 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 17 A Dilemma De Luxe By MARGARET MANNERS It was embarrassing, to say the least! The young man strove vainly to retain his equilibrium, also his hold upon the inert form in his arms. But the color mounted in a vivid flush of red to his very blonde hair. Then the nearby group of watchers laughed. He was still more confused. The auburn locks of the fair figure in his arms became loosened and fell in a cas- cade almost to the floor. The man was visibly discon- certed, and letting go with one hand, he clutched at his collar and gazed wildly down at the cold, upturned face. With a renewed effort to escape the taunting eyes of the curious, snickering crowd, he gathered the slim figure to him once more, when a shout went up and, looking back, he saw that the gown he had hastily loosened at the neck of the fair vision when he had first come upon the scene, had slipped off and lay in a soft silken heap at his feet. He was painfully aware that all that remained to view was the daintiest of filmy lingerie, and sheer, silken hosiery. One tiny pump had fallen off. The young man thought he would faint if he did not escape the crowd that had rapidly grown to a curi-