Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, May 1922 · page 11 of 68
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang #33 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page from the satirical magazine *Captain Billy's Whiz Bang* contains several humorous short pieces typical of 1920s American humor: **"Barbers, Read This One"** jokes about a rural, unsophisticated man unfamiliar with barbershop etiquette—he doesn't understand the question and lies on his stomach instead of sitting properly. **"Chapter I"** opens a crime fiction parody featuring "Faro Phil," a stereotypical gambling character shot dead at a card table with five aces—suggesting cheating. **"Look Me Over, Sister"** presents a cocky man's boastful pickup line, mocking narcissistic seduction attempts. **"Who Can Finish This One?"** is a bawdy verse about Prohibition-era bootlegging and loose morality—a woman faints outside a speakeasy, and men revive her with gin, eventually recognizing her as someone's discarded lover ("old broad labeled Maud"). The final aphorism about maternal beauty provides ironic contrast to the preceding risqué content. These pieces reflect 1920s working-class humor and anxieties about Prohibition, modern dating, and social propriety.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
9 Captain Billy's Whiz Bang Barbers, Read This One It was perhaps the rough mountaineer's first visit to a tonsorial parlor. After the bar- ber had shaved his face and scented him up sweetly, he inquired, “Want your neck shaved?” “Oh, I guess you mought as well,” was the reply, as the man turned over on his stomach. * * * Chapter I “Bang!” A shot rang out upon the still midnight air, and Faro Phil, the gambler, fell prone across the green baize of the gambling table, five aces fluttering from his nerve- less digits. * * * Look Me Over, Sister “Well, who are you?” she inquired as he suddenly blundered into the room unannounced. “Me? Why, sister, I'm the answer to a maiden's prayer. Look me over.” * * * Who Can Finish This One? 'Twas a hot August day, that from Pittsburg, P. A., Mike's bootleg drove up in her car, And she fell in a swoon on that hot afternoon, On the sidewalk in front of Mike's bar; And Bill, with a grin, rubbed gin on her shin, And he propped her head up on the sod; She opened her “glim”; threw her “lamps” onto him And he saw his old broad labeled Maud. * * * The most beautiful sight in nature is a woman with grace in her step, Heaven in her eyes, and a baby in her arms.