Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, August 1921 · page 40 of 68
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang #23 — page 40: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page reproduces stanzas from a folk ballad about infidelity and violent retribution. The song tells of Frankie discovering her husband Johnnie has left with another woman (Nellie Bly). Frankie retrieves a .44 gun hidden in her kimona and confronts them at the Bly house, resulting in a shooting death. The ballad concludes with a funeral: thirteen mourners depart, but only twelve men return—implying Frankie killed Johnnie. The "Frankie and Johnnie" ballad was an actual American folk song popular in the early 1900s, based on a real 1899 crime in St. Louis. Whiz Bang presents it as entertainment for a 1921-22 audience familiar with this notorious story. The brief joke appended about a woman's figure serves as filler comedy.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
38 Captain Billy's Whiz Bang Frankie and Johnnie Blues EDITOR'S NOTE: The following stanzas are part of the song: "Frankie and Johnnie Blues." The poem is too long to be published in the regular issue of the Whiz Bang, but it will be reproduced IN FULL in the Winter Annual of Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, Pedigreed Follies of 1921-1922. Frankie went down to the corner, To buy herself some near beer, Says to the handsome bartender, Has my loving man been here? He is my man But he is doing me wrong. I ain't going to tell you no story, Ain't going to tell you no lies, Johnnie left here an hour ago With a party called Nellie Bly, He is your husband, But he is doing you wrong, Frankie went back to the Bly house, Didn't go back there for fun, Underneath her red kimona, She carried a 44 gun. She's after the man That was doing her wrong. Frankie knocked on the door, Frankie pushed on the bell, Open that door you "crooked girl" Or I'll blow you clear to—well, You've got my man, That's doing me wrong. Thirteen girls dressed in mourning, Thirteen men dressed in black, They all went out to the cemetery, But only twelve of the men came back, They left her man, That had done her wrong. * * * There was a young lady of Skye, With a shape like a capital I. She said" Its too bad! But then I can pad"— Which shows you figures can lie.