Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, March 1922 · page 23 of 68
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang #31 — page 23: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a humor column featuring "Captain Billy" answering readers' questions with comedic one-liners. The jokes rely on early 20th-century social commentary: 1. **The bull registration joke** mocks voting rights restrictions—suggesting animals are as qualified as certain excluded groups (likely targeting recent suffrage debates). 2. **The cast iron plates quip** is dark domestic humor about spousal violence, treating wife-beating as a joking matter acceptable for entertainment. 3. **The love definition** offers sentimental romance language typical of period advice columns. 4. **"The Eternal Triangle"** references the popular theatrical trope of romantic entanglements. The Adam and Eve reference and "Cribbed" (cheated/plagiarized) punchline suggest even biblical figures engaged in infidelity—irreverent humor mocking religious propriety. These reflect crude, often offensive humor standards of the era, normalizing violence and treating serious social issues as punchlines.
📄 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 21 Questions and Answers Dear Capt. Billy—If your pedigreed bull is a thoroughbred, why not have him registered?—Simon Simple. No use to register him; he couldn't vote anyway. * * * Dear Capt. Billy—My wife is getting too strenuous. The other day she broke a plate over my head. What would you advise me to do?—Nyce Boise. You might try cast iron plates. * * * Dear Capt. Bill—Please define love?—Amorous Annabelle. Love is the psychology of youth; the subtle sympathy that blends the world into a thing of joy and pleasure unrestrained. * * * Dear Bill—Is “The Eternal Triangle” a play or a book?—Innocent Imogene. It's a heart-throbbing and soul-stirring play, Imogene, in which all humans have at some time or other enacted a leading part—Adam and Eve excepted. In fact I feel certain that neither Adam or Eve ever “Cribbed” in the