Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, September 1921 · page 50 of 68
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang #27 — page 50: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains a satirical narrative about Hollywood scandal and corruption, likely referencing real events from the silent film era. The story depicts a "film magnate" (studio executive) who has an affair with a young actress, then abandons her for another woman. When the actress commits suicide, her friend threatens to expose the scandal at a party. The satire targets the film industry's power dynamics: the magnate sends a threatening telegram to an innocent screen star who merely shares the same name as the gossip. The joke satirizes Hollywood's ruthlessness—the executive's willingness to threaten an innocent person's career to suppress scandal. The final paragraph introduces a journalist attempting a "grand jury investigation," mocking press sensationalism and suggesting such investigations never materialized. The satire criticizes both studio corruption and the industry's ability to suppress accountability.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
48 Captain Billy's Whiz Bang Well, after a while, the girl, who was now in her twenties, realized that he was slipping away from her. She accused him of having met another girl for whom he cared more than for her. Incidentally, he was a married man, but that didn't count. The film magnate renewed his protestations to her; but began to find fault with the quality of her scenario work. Then one day the little girl went into the bath room and tipped up a bottle of poison and that was the end. Well, not quite the end. A girl friend of hers began to talk at a party. She began to tell some very dangerous things she knew of. It happened that this girl's name is the same as that of a great screen star. In a panic the film magnate heard what was said at the party. He hurried off to the astonished star a telegram threatening openly to