Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, October 1921 · page 20 of 68
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang #25 — page 20: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two humorous anecdotes typical of early-20th-century American comic magazines. **"Where Silence Was Golden"** mocks social awkwardness. A man with a severe stutter asks for the time; when another passenger doesn't respond, the stutterer assumes he's addressed a foreigner and leaves. The third man criticizes the silent passenger for being "uncivil," but the punchline reveals the passenger *also* stutters—he stayed quiet to avoid getting his "head knocked off," implying stutterers were often mocked or bullied. **"Does It Pay to Forget?"** plays on ethnic stereotypes common to the era. An Irishman ("Pat") and German ("Heinie"/"Fritzie") fight, agreeing to say "Sufficient" when beaten. After an exhausting match, the German surrenders—but Pat admits he'd forgotten the word during the fight, suggesting Irish characters as dim-witted or forgetful. Both jokes rely on period prejudices: against disabled speech and against Irish and German immigrants, reflecting contemporary social attitudes.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
18 Captain Billy's Whiz Bang Where Silence Was Golden Three gentlemen were seated in a street car. One of them, who stuttered badly, turned to the man nearest him and said: W-w-w-would y-y-y-you p-p-p-please t-t-t-tell m-me w-what t-t-time it is?” Receiving no reply he thought he had addressed a foreigner and soon left the car. The third gentleman turned to the one that had been asked for the time of day and said: “Why didn’t you tell that poor fellow the time? I never thought that anyone could be so un-civil.” The one who had been asked for the time turned ond said: “D-d-d-do y-y-y-you t-t-think I-I-I-I w-w-wanted t-t-to ge-ge-get my h-h-head ku-ku-knocked off?” * * * Does It Pay to Forget? An Irishman and a German went out to the back yard to settle an argument with their fists. Just before the fight started they agreed that when either of them had enough he would say “Sufficient.” Then they went at it. The Irishman soon knocked the Fritzie off his feet. Heinie got up, shook his head and, catching the Irishman off his guard, hit him for a goal. Pat came back fast and furious—when finally the German, about ready to drop from sheer exhaustion, cried out—“Sufficient.” Pat shook hands with him and said: “I’ve been trying to think of that word for the last ten minutes.”