Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, March 1922 · page 26 of 68
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang #31 — page 26: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page from *Whiz Bang*, an early 20th-century American humor magazine, contains several short jokes mocking various targets: **The jokes** satirize: - Baldness (cigar box as hair container) - Clergy hypocrisy (preacher collecting money before preaching thrift) - Children's naiveté (Percy's circular logic about sin) **The main story, "Proudie! Proudie!"** ridicules a man with an effeminate soprano voice and lisp. The humor relies on stereotyping: an actor snubs him for his mannerisms, repeatedly ignores him, but the soprano-voiced man publicly humiliates the actor in a cafe by loudly calling "Proudie!" in his exaggerated high voice and lisp—turning the actor's coldness back on him socially. The satire targets masculine pride and social prejudice, while simultaneously mocking effeminacy through caricature. This reflects period attitudes toward gender nonconformity as inherently laughable and deserving of public ridicule.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
24 Captain Billy's Whiz Bang Dear Capt. Billy—What is good to keep hair in?—Baldy Bozo. A cigar box. * * * Preacher—Take up the collection before I start preaching. Why? Preacher—Because I’m going to preach on thrift. * * * Sunday School Teacher—“Percy, what must we do before our sins can be forgiven?” Percy—“Sin.” * * * Proudie! Proudie! A well-known actor was introduced to a chap who didn’t strike him particularly because he was prejudiced against men who talk in soprano voices. The next time they met he ignored the fellow entirely. A few days later he ran across the fellow again, but his face was still frozen. The fourth meeting occurred in a cafe, and he of the soprano voice waltzed up to the disgusted actor’s table. “Do you know,” he said, “we have met three times and you weally haven’t noticed me?” Then with a sibilant lisp in a high C that nobody in the cafe could miss, he gave the actor three little dabs on the shoulder and squeaked, “Proudie! Proudie! Proudie!”