Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, August 1921 · page 12 of 68
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang #23 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page from the satirical magazine contains three unrelated humor pieces typical of the publication's style: 1. **The Gus/Ole story**: A running gag about the magazine's fictional hired man, Gus, whose Swedish brother Ole visits. The humor relies on ethnic stereotypes—Ole is portrayed as unsophisticated ("not any too dainty," has "weak pedals") and overwhelmed by small-town life, finding even Robbinsdale "too fast." The joke plays on immigrant culture and rural/urban culture clash. 2. **The Whiffenpoof correction**: A reader correction about a fictional creature. The original false definition (fish swimming backward) is replaced with an equally absurd one (a dog with mismatched leg lengths for hillside walking). The humor is pure nonsense wordplay. 3. **"A Succulent Table d'Hote"**: A brief poetic joke using French terminology ("table d'hôte"—fixed menu meal) to describe a cow nursing its calf, creating an ironic juxtaposition of refined dining language with pastoral animal imagery. These pieces exemplify Whiz Bang's irreverent, pun-heavy humor style.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
10 Captain Billy's Whiz Bang WHIZ BANG readers will remember some time ago we got a letter from a fellow on the Pacific Coast who enquired if his long lost brother from Sweden was our hired man, Gus. It developed later that this was true and Gus and his brother, Ole, staged a re-union the other day, but as Gus' brother is not any too dainty and as he has weak pedals, I was unable to find a position for him on the Whiz Bang farm. However, Gus solved the difficulty by getting his brother a job as street cleaner in Robbinsdale, and after the first day, Ole quit and said that Robbinsdale was too fast for him. At least that is the impression we got from him, for he said Robbinsdale was no one horse town. * * * RUS MORRISSEY says we were in error in declaring that a whiffenpoof was a fish that swims backwards to keep water out of its eyes, and that a whiffenpoof really is a dog whose left legs are shorter than its right legs so that the said whiffenpoof dog can walk around a hill without losing its balance. Some dorg, we'd say! * * * A Succulent Table d'Hote The cow stood in the pasture field, Her joy was most complete For with her was her baby calf A dining tete-a-tete.