Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, March 1922 · page 42 of 68
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang #31 — page 42: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page from *Captain Billy's Whiz Bang* is a satirical domestic fiction piece mocking upper-class American life during Prohibition (referenced by "whisky runner's car"). The humor targets excessive wealth and poor parenting: Helen's household is so affluent yet understaffed that she gives her toddler "Baby Winifred" a cocktail of potato whisky and snuff to manage her tantrums. The satire escalates absurdly—a pet cobra that bites neighbors, leisure spent on Victrola music lessons while household help is scarce, and a three-hour butcher order. The piece ridicules both the frivolous priorities of the wealthy and the moral bankruptcy of Prohibition-era excess, where alcohol flows freely despite legal restrictions. The casual child endangerment (drugging an infant) amplifies the satirical critique of irresponsible privilege during this era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
40 Captain Billy's Whiz Bang her a kiss he dashed blithely out of the house and hailing a passing whisky runner's car, was soon out of sight on his way to work. Helen busied herself around the house and tried to keep her mind off of the painting job. Since they had dispensed with the services of three maids and there was no one to assist her with the house work except Bridget, the Japanese house girl, there was much for her to do. Getting Baby Winifred ready for school was the biggest task, and this morning the little girl was more unruly than ever. Only by giving her a large glass of potato whisky mixed with snuff, of which the child was intensely fond could Helen induce her to stop breaking the cut glass decanters on the sideboard, and allow herself to be dressed. Making out the order for the butcher shop occupied three hours, and when that was done it was time for her music lesson, for Helen never allowed anything to interfere with her musical education, and at ten o'clock she seated herself at the Victrola and under the skillful tutelage of her teacher she was soon able to play the overture from “Lily of the Alley.” From eleven until two was spent in eating a light lunch, and then Jacqueline Olson dropped in to complain about Mabel, Helen's pet cobra, biting her little boy. The Olson woman was always distasteful to Helen and when she requested that the snake be kept tied up during the summer months, Helen arose