Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, January 1922 · page 30 of 68
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang #29 — page 30: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page from *Captain Billy's Whiz Bang* (a 1920s-era humor magazine) contains three separate jokes: **"Her Sprinkling System"**: A wealthy woman, identified by her diamonds, attempts to sound sophisticated about landscaping but malaproposes "salvia" (a flower) as "saliva" (spit). The architect, playing along sarcastically, suggests planting "spitunians" (spittoons) in front. The joke mocks nouveau-riche pretension and malapropisms. **"Dark/Darker"**: A brief ethnic joke. The wordplay suggests someone so poor they can't afford a razor for grooming—thus can't attend a dance. **"William Tell O'Toole"**: An absurdist joke about reckless Irish immigrants (suggested by the Irish names). One character bets another he can shoot a peanut off his head with a shotgun, confident he'll miss—a darkly comedic reference to William Tell, but played for laughs about poor judgment and danger. These represent typical working-class and ethnic humor of the era, relying on malapropisms, Irish stereotypes, and slapstick danger.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
28 Captain Billy's Whiz Bang Her Sprinkling System The architect was standing before one of his newly completed creations. Its mistress, plentifully sprinkled with diamonds at eleven in the morning, turned to him and said: “It’s grand, and I’ve just decided not to employ a landscape gardener. I know just what I want myself. Banked up right against the porch there I want a real thick border—now what is that name? You know; those bright red flowers that look so dressy—yes; now I have it—saliva.” The architect was staggered for a moment, but soon recovered and came back enthusiastically. “The very thing,” he agreed. “And right in front a nice row of spitunians.” * * * Dark—Going to the dance tonight, Sam? Darker—Naw, I ain’t got any razor. * * * William Tell O’Toole Clancy chuckled. “What’s the joke?” asked Mooney. “Sure,” replied Clancy, “Casey bet me ten dollars he could shoot a peanut off my head with a shot gun and oi took him up because oi knew he’d miss it.” * * * He wouldn’t supporter, so she stole his suspenders.