Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, June 1922 · page 64 of 68
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang #34 — page 64: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a gossip and satirical column from an early 1920s humor magazine. The page mocks Hollywood celebrities and the film industry through brief scandal items: **Key targets:** - **Mildred Harris** (actress): mocked for owing a large dressmaker's bill ($9,145) while buying luxuries - **Oliver Morosco** (theater/film producer): ridiculed for marrying his mistress (Selma Paley) after his wife's divorce suit demanded accounting of $250,000 in gifts to her; he then bought the new wife a $60,000 house - **Jack Lasky** (actor): his wife complains he's become spoiled by success, changed from a humble $15/week earner - **Motion picture company**: employees unpaid for three weeks contemplate seizing a $22,000 company car as compensation **The satire:** Hollywood's nouveau riche excess, infidelity, and financial irresponsibility—contrasting extravagant spending with worker exploitation and unpaid wages.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
62 Captain Billy's Whiz Bang WE WONDER if Mildred Harris waited until she settled a bill of $9,145 which Joseph, the New York modiste, said she owed, before purchasing her Easter Bonnet? * * * OLIVER MOROSCO, widely known theatrical producer, has just married Selma Paley, named as the “other woman” in his wife’s suit for divorce. Miss Paley played in “Madam Sherry” nine years ago, that being her first appearance on the stage, and has appeared in many productions since that time. In Mrs. Morosco’s suit for divorce, she demanded an accounting of $250,000 in gifts which she said Morosco had given Miss Paley. Morosco has just bought a $60,000 home for his bride in Los Angeles. * * * ANNE MOWER has just divorced her husband, Jack, Lasky leading man. “Every night was Saturday night to Jack,” the wife complained. “We were happy when he earned $15 a week but success has spoiled him!” * * * A $22,000 automobile rolled up to the exchange offices of a motion picture producing and distributing company last week in New York City. The sales force had not been paid for three weeks. The employees are thinking of pooling interests and taking over the car “on account.”