Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, March 1922 · page 27 of 68
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang #31 — page 27: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains four brief satirical jokes typical of 1920s American humor magazines. The **"Parlor Story"** mocks NYC tenement overcrowding—four families crammed into one room separated only by chalk lines. The joke's dark humor: conditions are so bad that the punchline (one tenant taking in *boarders* in his quarter-room) seems plausible rather than absurd. The **mackerel/macaroons joke** appears to mock either ethnic stereotypes or food-based prejudice, though the exact target is unclear without more context about 1920s Manhattan demographics. **"Another Nut Story"** parodies both asylum inmates' typical sob stories and the absurdist punchline format—the man's complaint escalates ridiculously (Grape-Nuts cereal, sleeping with rats, a squirrel as a pet), culminating in him referencing Napoleon's lost love Josephine, conflating his supposed trauma with historical melodrama. **"Oh, Doc Crafts!"** is a one-liner comparing boring people to chewing blotting paper—a simple observational gag. The humor relies on exaggeration, wordplay, and surreal non-sequiturs typical of the era.
📄 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 25 Parlor Story One day an inspector of a New York tene-ment house found four families living in one room, chalk lines having been drawn in such a manner as to mark out a quarter for each family. “How do you get along here?” inquired the inspector. “Very well,” was the reply, “Only the man in the farthest corner keeps boarders.” * * * Some kind-hearted man of money moves the motion that Manhattan’s mackerel munching macaroons be deported to Waikiki Beach to indulge in the popular Hawaiian pastime of poi-eating. * * * Another Nut Story “Mine is a sad case, Lady,” said the solemn visaged inmate of the asylum to the visitor. “My parents fed me Gripe nuts; made me sleep up in the garret among the rats, in a ‘buggy’ bed and beneath a crazy quilt. My only pet was a squirrel, and my only toys, the wheels from a cuckoo clock.” And striking a Napoleonic attitude, he strode out in search of Josephine. * * * Oh, Doc Crafts! Some people are so dry that talking to them is like chewing a blotter.