Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, June 1922 · page 59 of 68
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang #34 — page 59: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes post-WWI moral decay and commercialized vice in 1920s Berlin and New York. The text describes "Celly," a performer arrested in Berlin for nude dancing (presented as "Art"), fined 37,000 marks for "conduct detrimental to public morality." Her notoriety sparked demand for "Natura" ballets—explicitly nude performances that became profitable spectacles. The satire targets multiple targets: the hypocrisy of calling nudity "Art," the ease with which moral standards collapsed after World War I ("tore away all the old scruples"), and the commercialization of vice. The author mocks upscale venues that require evening dress and female companions—not for propriety, but to ensure wealthy clientele ("spenders with 'a roll'"). The cynical point: establishments perform morality theater while profiting from abandon, and wealthy patrons' formal attire paradoxically signals their intent to spend money on illicit entertainment.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang 57 band. You see it was all done in the name of Art! Celly got along all right until last Decem- ber, when she began dancing—still minus any- thing more elaborate than a freckle—in a Ber- lin kabaret. That finished Celly, for she was arrested and convicted of “conducting a per- formance detrimental to public morality.” For which Celly and her lieutenant were fined the awe-inspiring sum of 37,000 marks. But Celly had paved the way. With her success came “Natura” ballets—of white flesh minus the restraint of even chiffon—at the Ber- lin theaters. And the nymphs attracted capac- ity business. The whole trouble lies in the fact that the world—or that part of it possessing money— is jaded and that the world war tore away all the old scruples. Today New York is more abandoned than ever before in its history but you need plenty of money and a knowledge of night life to find the abandon. It is impossible to get into these break-of- dawn cabarets without evening clothes and it is usually impossible without having a young woman along. The cafe owner wants to be sure you look like a spender and that you will spend. Besides there is psychology involved in the dress suit. A head waiter told us the other night that, when a man dresses for the evening, he invariably comes with “a roll.” And the restaurants need “the roll.”