Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, July 1921 · page 25 of 68
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang #22 — page 25: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a moralistic satire by a Minneapolis pastor condemning the behavior of beachgoers on California's coast. The author uses the term "beach nuts" to mock young people—particularly young women and men—who cavort scantily dressed at bathing resorts on Sundays. The satire targets the perceived abandonment of religious propriety: instead of observing the Sabbath, beachgoers engage in flirtation and physical intimacy. The author sarcastically invokes religious imagery ("the cross gives way to Cupid's bow," "the Bible is the book of nature") to criticize what he sees as moral decay. The piece reflects 1920s anxieties about changing sexual mores, women's increasing public freedom, and the perceived threat to traditional Christian values. "Beach nuts" refers both to the casual, unrestrainedly behaving young people and implicitly suggests they lack sense or judgment. The closing "devil's undertow" metaphor warns of moral danger lurking beneath California's permissive beach culture.
📄 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 23 California Beach Nuts BY REV. “GOLIGHTLY” MORRILL Pastor People's Church, Minneapolis, Minn. CALIFORNIA’S coast is a big bathing beach. The state is not only famous for its walnuts, but for its beach nuts one sees every day, especially Sunday. The ocean strand is covered with half-dressed women, boys and girls sprawled out like goats and satyrs hugging the shore and each other. It is the play-ground of the sexes. At many bathing resorts Sunday is anything but religious. The cross gives way to Cupid’s bow and arrow. The Bible is the book of nature done in calf. Brown lads lie with their heads in the laps of half-naked brunettes, forgetting that to do so and not mean harm is “hypocrisy to the devil” who tempts their virtue. They make no attempt to hide under beach umbrellas. One may question their propriety, but neither their nerve nor shape. Their speech is low, but if actions speak louder than words, their conduct is often vulgar if not vicious. We saw a place adver-tised as the “safest beach,” but without falling into the deep water we fear the devil’s undertow is carrying