Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, March 1922 · page 22 of 68
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang #31 — page 22: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains four separate humor pieces typical of 1920s satirical magazines: 1. **"Our Puzzle Department"**: A joke about intoxication. The father uses a classic drunk test—double vision—to explain inebriation. The son's response (seeing only one man) becomes the punchline, implying he's already drunk. 2. **"Let This One Sink In"**: A racial stereotype joke featuring a character named "Rastus" (a common derogatory name for Black characters in period media). The humor relies on dialect humor and the premise of a lion tamer's assistant joking about being eaten. 3. **Actors commentary**: A brief social observation about actors' inconsistency and shamelessness—willing to insult different cities depending on their audience for applause. 4. **"Our Spring Thriller"**: A setup-and-punchline about a chess match presented as dramatic confrontation, subverting reader expectations with an anticlimax. These pieces reflect typical lowbrow humor of the era, including casual racial stereotyping now considered offensive.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
20 Captain Billy's Whiz Bang Our Puzzle Department Father and son were licking up moonshine. “Father,” asked the son, “how am I to know when I’m drunk?” The old man pointed across the street. “When those two men over there look like four,” he responded. “But father,” interrupted the son, “I see only one man there.” * * * Let This One Sink In Lion Tamer—“Step into the cage with the lion, Rastus, and let the photographer focus you.” Rastus—“He’d better focus me before ah goes in there, boss, for he ain’t gwine hab no time to focus me when ah comes out.” * * * Actors are the bunk. I heard one in Minneapolis knocking St. Paul and I applauded him, and I saw the same actor in St. Paul knocking Minneapolis and I gave him the razzberry. * * * Our Spring Thriller “I’ve got you at last,” he cried, “move if you dare, move! It’s taken me many years, but at last I’ve got you where I want you! Now I dare you to move!” “Yep, you’re right,” replied his friend, “it’s the first game of checkers you ever did win from me.”