Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, May 1922 · page 30 of 68
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang #33 — page 30: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page collects six brief jokes typical of 1920s American humor magazines: **"Could She Do It?"** - A pun joke: a woman asks a clerk to rush wrapping a mousetrap because she wants to "catch a train"—conflating catching rodents with catching transportation. **"Very Kiddish Yiddish"** - Ethnic humor playing on Jewish/Yiddish speech patterns. The joke hinges on "Hebrews" sounding like "he brews" (beer), relying on stereotypes about Jewish immigrants and alcohol. **Animal jokes** - Absurdist humor about a cat jumping on a dog's back making "the world went round." **"Some Silly Bull"** - A pun: owning cattle with a man named Pedro makes him the owner's "syllable" (sounds like "cattle"). **"If They Wrote the Truth"** - References Prohibition-era drinking ("hootch") and medicinal alcohol prescriptions, satirizing hypocrisy around alcohol laws. **"Maud Is Maudlin"** - A pun on "maudlin" (emotional/sentimental); Maud misunderstands "missing engine" as a lost object to find, rather than a mechanical failure. The humor is simple wordplay and ethnic stereotyping typical of the era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
28 Captain Billy's Whiz Bang Could She Do It? A lady went into a five and dime store, And gave the clerk a pain; “Hurry, wrap up this mouse-trap,” she said, “I want to catch a train.” * * * Very Kiddish Yiddish My neighbor made some Jewish beer, The very best I’ve had this year; A funny name, you say, to chose, But that’s the kind, you see, Hebrews. * * * A tomcat sat upon the fence, A bull dog stood upon the ground, The tomcat jumped on the bull dog’s back And the world went round and round. * * * Some Silly Bull I’ve owned cattle by the herd, Of cows my barn is full; To you it may sound quite absurd But Pedro is my syllable. * * * If They Wrote the Truth Dear Wife—I’m writing you with a bottle of hootch in one hand and a prescription in the other. * * * Maud Is Maudlin “The engine’s missing, Maud,” he said; -As the fliv beside the road stopped dead, “Well, my dear,” said she, “don’t mind it, Let’s walk back and try to find it.”