Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, May 1922 · page 20 of 68
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang #33 — page 20: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a humor advice column from *Whiz Bang*, a post-WWI satirical magazine known for irreverent, crude jokes. The page contains mock "Dear Captain Billy" letters with deliberately absurd answers: **Key jokes:** - **Nanny's goat**: Dark humor about feeding a goat nails and a tomato can—the twist is the tomato can (not the nails) will harm it. - **Gertie's kiss dilemma**: Crude sexual innuendo ("Hold still"). - **Chicken crossing road**: Early version of this now-classic joke format. - **Mysterious mailman**: A joke conflating a mail carrier with a Civil War Confederate soldier, with a reference to the war being a "frame-up"—reflecting post-war revisionism sentiment. - **Pe'o the bull pun**: A simple pun on "pen" and the bull's name. The humor is deliberately lowbrow, relying on puns, misdirection, and sexual/violent innuendo typical of 1920s working-class American humor magazines.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
18 Captain Billy's Whiz Bang Dearest Capt. Billy—What is so rare as a day in June?—Tessie. A red-headed Chinaman. * * * Dear Bill—I don't have a pedigreed bull, but I do happen to have a pedigreed goat, and the other day I fed him two pounds of nails and a tomato can. Do you think this will hurt him any?—Nanny. The nails won't hurt him any, but the tomato can. * * * Dear Billy—What should I do if a good looking young man tries to kiss me?—Gertie. Hold still. * * * Dear Capt. Billy—Why does a chicken cross the road?—Cradle Kicker. Because it has a fowl mind. * * * Dear Capt. Billy—Have just moved into Robbinsdale and I am puzzled to know who the mysterious man is who passes our house every day carrying a bag of letters and wearing a gray suit.—Bada Bjornstad. As our friend, Lena Fickle, once answered this inquiry, “Shoot him, he’s a Confederate soldier. The Civil War was a frame-up.” * * * Down E. Nest—Where do we keep Pe o, our bull? In a pen, of course.