Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, May 1922 · page 42 of 68
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang #33 — page 42: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page collects short jokes and humorous verses typical of 1920s-era satirical magazines. The humor relies on wordplay and domestic situations: **"A New Way to Do It"**: A pun on "chew the rag" (complain/talk endlessly). A bound-and-gagged man claims he spent the night doing just that—literally chewing his gag. **Book Agent joke**: Satirizes both aggressive door-to-door salesmen and marital discord. The premise is that boring books about women will keep husbands occupied at home. **"Marvelous Missouri Blues"**: Rural folk humor about a farmer (Small Paul) hitting his mule, which retaliates by kicking where the farmer eats—a crude punchline playing on the double meaning of "meals." **Church attendance joke**: Mocks hypocrisy: elderly attend to sleep, young women attend to show off clothing rather than for piety. **"Spank On, Macduff"**: Puns on children's names ("Wennis"/"Weinie") to create a rhyme scheme about disciplining mischievous kids. **Final line**: A dark quip suggesting the undertaker is someone you'd prefer never to do business with (implying death).
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
40 Captain Billy's Whiz Bang A New Way to Do It "Yes, sir, some burglars got into the house last night, bound me to a chair and gagged me." "Then what did you do." "Why I sat around all night and chewed the rag." * * * Book Agent—"Mrs. Casey, these twenty vol- umes of the affairs of famous women will keep your husband home nights for one year." * * * Marvelous Missouri Blues Small Paul hit his mule with a maul, While stealing with stealth past his stall; The mule put his heels Where Paul put his meals— Mule's heels—between meals—some pall. * * * Attend your church, the parson cries, To church each fair one goes; The old go there to close their eyes, The girls to eye their clothes. * * * Spank On, Macduff Wennis is my girlie's name, Weinie is my boy's, They make my life a rough old game, With madcap grief and joys. And when my nerves are going fast And I feel as though I'd burst, I spank my little Wennis last But spank my Weinie worst. * * * The last guy I want to do business with is the undertaker.