Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, October 1921 · page 52 of 68
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang #25 — page 52: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page from the satirical magazine contains several crude jokes typical of early 20th-century American humor: **"In Our Barn Yard"** is a simple pun about a hen laying an egg. **The "Misery" verses** mock life stages—suggesting an old man's suffering matters to no one, a cynical comment on aging and social indifference. **"Roses are rare"** is a standard breakup insult poem. **"Joe's a Gentleman"** presents dark satire: a woman brags that her abusive husband beats her but avoids her face—framing domestic violence as a mark of his "gentlemanly" consideration. This reflects disturbing period attitudes normalizing spousal abuse. **The "colored babies" section** contains racist "humor" based on skin tone, using a stereotyped name (George Washington Jackson) to mock Black families. **The final quip** is a sexist jab at women's ambitions, suggesting career aspirations inevitably yield to marriage. The page reflects the casual racism, sexism, and acceptance of domestic violence embedded in early 20th-century popular humor.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
50 Captain Billy's Whiz Bang In Our Barn Yard In she came; Down she sot; Laid a little egg, And up she got. * * * “The MISERY of a CHILD—is interesting to a MOTHER! “The MISERY of a YOUNG MAN—is in- teresting to a YOUNG WOMAN! “The MISERY of an OLD MAN—is inter- esting to N O B O D Y!” * * * Roses are rare, Violets are few, I sure picked a lemon, When I got you. * * * Joe’s a Gentleman “Yes,” remarked the stout lady in the pri- vate bar of the Helping Hand, “my Joe give me a ruddy good leatherin’ larst night. You oughter see my shoulders! They’re black and blue. But,” she added proudly, “‘e never ‘its me on the face, where it’ll show. My Joe’s too much of a gentleman for that.” * * * Reverting to the subject of colored babies, George Washington Jackson, informs us that his wife presented him with one last week that weighed only two pounds. Now he wants to know if this isn’t the first time a colored baby was born so light. * * * Yes, Alfred, the ambitious girl is ambitious to make a name for herself, but she usually ends by accepting some man’s.