Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, December 1921 · page 32 of 68
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang #28 — page 32: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page from *Captain Billy's Whiz Bang* contains two separate humor pieces: **"Pat, Lady Killer"** mocks Irish immigrant revival converts through ethnic dialect humor. An Irishman undergoes religious conversion at a revival meeting, then testifies to his past sins—boasting he was a "killer among the women." The joke relies on the character's malapropisms and Irish accent ("O'im," "gintlemen," "dom bad") to suggest he's proudly admitting to seducing women while claiming Christian redemption. It satirizes both revival meeting fervor and stereotypes about Irish immigrants and their relationship to respectability. **"A Chaplin Prayer"** is a brief joke contrasting "good boy" Danny, who prays the Lord's Prayer earnestly, with "bad boy" Jimmy, who interrupts with a crude demand to "strike him for pie"—a request for punishment to gain dessert. The satire targets children's morality and the gap between religious teaching and actual behavior. Both pieces use humor to mock working-class and immigrant populations, common in this era's satirical magazines.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
30 Captain Billy’s Whiz Bang Pat, Lady Killer A son of Erin wandered into a revival meeting one night. After listening to the revivalist catalogue the crimes and misdemean-ors of which his hearers were guilty and enlarge upon the danger of spending eternity in a warm but insalubrious climate, the poor Irishman felt that he was “hair hung and breeze shaken over hell” ’as Elder Means said. Soon he was under deep “conviction” and in due time was soundly converted. A few evenings later he arose to give his “testimony” and said: “Ladies and gintlemen; Oh, Oi beg yer pardon—My Dear Sisters an’ Brothers; you know O’im not used to spakin’ in meetin’s like this. But Oi want to tell you that O’im glad Oi’m saved. An’ be the way, it took a helluva lot of grace to save me, for Oi was a dom bad man. Oi lied an’ dhrank an’ swore an’ stole an’ gambled an’ did everyt’ing that was low and vile an’ mean. An’ more than that, Oi was a ‘killer’ among the women, as many of the sisters here present kin testify.” * * * A Chaplin Prayer Danny was a good boy. Jimmy was not. Danny said his prayers—“Give us this day our daily bread.” But Jimmy interrupted—“Strike him for pie, Danny.”