Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, March 1922 · page 51 of 68
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang #31 — page 51: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three brief humorous anecdotes typical of 1920s satirical magazines: **"A Startling Exegesis"** mocks African American dialect and religious services through a caricatured sermon about the biblical parable of the ten virgins. The humor relies on racist stereotyping—phonetic dialect ("mawnin'," "war") and the preacher's supposed confusion about the parable's meaning. This reflects the period's casual racist humor in mainstream publications. **"Must Be Dr. Cupid"** is a wordplay joke: a doctor diagnoses heart trouble, but the young man reveals his "heart trouble" is actually caused by a woman (unnamed), playing on "heart action" having romantic rather than medical implications. **"Roll 'Em Out Kid"** is a tall-tale about potatoes rolling downhill so prolifically that pulling one vine released two bushels. It's hyperbolic rural humor typical of the era's farm-themed jokes. All three anecdotes were reprinted from other publications (Harper's Magazine, Pathfinder), indicating Whiz Bang's practice of republishing humor.
📄 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 49 A Startling Exegesis At a colored camp meeting in Lousiana the following sermon was delivered by a very black old darky, wearing huge spectacles: “Brethren and Sistren, de preachifying dis mawnin’ will be from de text on de 10 virgins. De bridegroom war a-coming and ’spectin’ dem 10 virgins to be ready wif dere lamps all trimmed and a-burnin’, but, lo, when he was come he done foun’ dat on’y five of dem virgins war ready; yessir, five was trimmed and five was ontrimmed; five was wise and five was onwise; five was ready and five was onready; five was male and five was female.”—Harper’s Magazine. * * * Must Be Dr. Cupid “I don’t like your heart action,” said the doctor, applying his stethoscope. “You’ve had some trouble with angina pec-toris, haven’t you?” “You’re partly right, Doc,” answered the young man, sheepishly. “Only that ain’t her name.”—Pathfinder. * * * Roll ’Em Out Kid When I was farmin’ in North Dakota I raised spuds an’ one day I went out to see how my spuds was comin’. The patch was right on a side hill. Well, sir, do you know that when I pulled up that vine two bushels of spuds rolled out of that hill before I could plug up the hole.