Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, September 1921 · page 19 of 68
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang #27 — page 19: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a gossip column from *Captain Billy's Whiz Bang*, a satirical magazine popular in the 1920s. The page contains no cartoons—just celebrity rumors presented as innuendo. The jokes target Hollywood actresses and personalities: **Mary Miles Minter**: A pun comparing a battleship's hull-scraping to rumors about her romantic entanglements ("in the middle of a reel" = during filming). **Dorothy Dalton**: Mocked for publicly dating a wealthy studio executive ("angel" = financial backer). **Bebe Daniels and Jack Dempsey**: The famous boxer and actress are satirized for being seen together, with the columnist pretending to treat gossip as fact while winking at readers. **Wanda Hawley**: Ridiculed for bobbing her hair (a controversial 1920s trend) and for her appearance change, with the column suggesting vanity or transformation. The satirical tone treats Hollywood's romantic entanglements and personal choices as juicy scandal, characteristic of 1920s celebrity culture mockery. The magazine delighted in exposing or exaggerating stars' social activities.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang 17 Movie Hot Stuff WE WONDER how Mary Miles Minter likes the idea of the battleship “New Mexico” being sent up to Puget Sound Navy Yard to have her bottom scraped. It is said the “New Mexico” carried away a handsome young officer “in the middle of a reel.” * * * DOROTHY DALTON has been seen dancing often of late at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles with her millionaire “angel,” Godsell, of the Goldwyn Film Company. * * * BEBE DANIELS and Jack Dempsey, the pugilist, as the press agents of the film companies may have told you, have been seen chattering in the jungle at the Ambassador Cocoanut Grove. * * * WANDA HAWLEY has been vacationing at Catalina. Her hair has lately been bobbed and has lost its former brownishness, for it is now corn-tassel white. Wanda occupied a table in the center of the huge dining room of the St. Catherine Hotel