Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, August 1921 · page 30 of 68
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang #23 — page 30: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a humor advice column from *Captain Billy's Whiz Bang*, a satirical magazine known for crude, ribald jokes. The page contains four Q&A exchanges that mock readers through deliberately absurd or insulting responses. **The jokes rely on:** - Sexual innuendo (the "traveling man" letter hints at infidelity; the suggestion to "meow" plays on animal sounds as seduction) - Wordplay ("What large stream flows North to South?" answered with "Hootch"—slang for bootleg alcohol during Prohibition) - Insult humor (suggesting someone's singing is so bad they should block their own ears) The column's appeal lay in its irreverent tone and double meanings aimed at adult readers. The "Phical Phil" response references a poem presumably containing a cautionary tale about infidelity, likely related to the famous ballad "Frankie and Johnny" (variations exist). This represents early 20th-century American male-oriented humor—bawdy, dismissive of social conventions, and reliant on readers' familiarity with period slang and cultural references.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
28 Captain Billy's Whiz Bang Dear Captain Billy—I visited a nice little girl the other evening and she would not let me kiss her. Instead, she insisted on kissing a perfumed Persian kitten she held in her lap. What would you advise me to do?—Bashful Bert. On your next visit, select a dark and dismal night and at the psychological time meow like a cat. Maybe she won't know the difference. * * * Dear Captain Billy—I am a young married man. There is a handsome married woman, the wife of a traveling man, across the hall. She has a phonograph and each evening when he is away she plays such records as: “Lonesome,” “I Know That You Are Married,” “Won't You Come Over to My House,” “Won't You Come Over and Play?” Do you think I should take a chance?—Phical Phil. You are hereby referred to the poem “Johnny and Frankie,” which appears in the Smoke-house section of this issue. * * * Dear Captain—What large stream flows from North to South?—D. Jennie Rate. Hootch, my dear. * * * Dear Capt. Billy—When I sing I get tears in my eyes. What can I do for this? Stuff cotton in your ears.