Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, February 1922 · page 39 of 68
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang #30 — page 39: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two satirical pieces mocking New York City life and social pretension. **"As It Is In New York"** (first section): A humorous sketch by columnist O.O. McIntyre describing an out-of-town man on a date in Manhattan's Italian immigrant neighborhood (East Houston Street). The satire targets his transparent social climbing—his monogrammed accessories, fake sophistication (calling the waiter in French), and his absurd attempts to impress a woman from a factory ("jobber plant") while ultimately just wanting to write home about his loneliness. **"New York" poem** (second section): A scathing attack on the city itself, attributed to a former port official. It's explicitly antisemitic (references "Ruled by Jew and prostitute") and portrays New York as morally corrupt, chaotic, and dominated by greed and vice. The final line names the city "Delirium." Both pieces reflect 1920s urban anxiety and cynicism—mocking both pretentious outsiders and the city's perceived moral decay. The antisemitic rhetoric reflects unfortunate period attitudes found in American satirical publications.
📄 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 37 As It Is In New York "On East Houston Street is the lasagne or ravioli belt where the gay boys from out of town take the lead- ing ladies of the jobber plants out for a wild evening," writes O. O. McIntyre. "You know the gay out-of-town man. He carries a patent cigar lighter and has a sterling silver monogrammed belt buckle and, oh, yes, a handker- chief with a purple border. His eyes are blue and he wrinkles them in a merry twinkle, at least he thinks it is a merry twinkle, but it's just the sap oozing out. The Leading Lady knows Broadway because she reads Broad- way Brevities and her theory of life in the abstract is that Ladies Must Live. After the first quart of red ink, he whispers a story the boys told him in front of the Bon Ton Store before he left for the east. She pulls the two gun, hair-trigger Bill Hart stuff and says 'Naughty Man.' To complete the evening and display the ultimate in- savoir faire he calls loudly to the waiter: 'L'addition, s'il vous plait garcon.' They ride to one of the Oranges in a quick-firing metered taxi and he returns to the McAlpin to write the wife and kiddies of his lonesomeness." * * * New York This is the old famous New York poem, credited to a former collector of the port as author, but denied. How- ever, you'll note that every word carries a wallop and so we herewith, with your kind permission, republish it: Vulgar of manner, overfed, Over dressed, and underbred, Heartless, Godless, hell's delight, Rude by day, lewd by night, Bedwarfed the man, enlarged the brute, Ruled by Jew and prostitute Purple robed and pauper clad Raving, rioting, money mad— A squirming herd of Mammon's mesh, A wilderness of human flesh. Crazed by avarice, lust and rum— New York! Thy name's "Delirium."