Captain Billy's Whiz Bang #32 — page 1: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This is a cover illustration for *Captain Billy's Whiz Bang*, a satirical magazine from April 1922. The main image depicts a woman in a red dress smoking a cigarette at what appears to be a public venue or pool hall, directly beneath a prominent "NO SMOKING" sign. Small figures in the background suggest an audience. The caption "explosion of pedigreed bunk" sarcastically comments on the contradiction: the woman brazenly violates the no-smoking rule, implying that such rules are pretentious nonsense ("pedigreed bunk"). This likely satirizes 1920s attitudes toward smoking restrictions or women's behavior during the Jazz Age. The illustration captures the era's conflict between social conventions and the emerging modernity of the "Roaring Twenties," particularly regarding women's increasing public independence and defiance of traditional restrictions.