Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, June 1922 · page 8 of 68
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang #34 — page 8: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two satirical pieces from an early 20th-century American humor magazine. The first section mocks American prudishness about women smoking, contrasting it with more permissive English attitudes. It references recent (unspecified) actions by New York and Chicago officials who apparently tried to restrict women's smoking—actions the author finds absurdly outdated, even by small-town standards. The second piece satirizes a San Jose newspaper's awkward promotional offer: complimentary tickets to a film called "Go Straight" contingent on Mrs. Abel visiting their office. The satire suggests the newspaper's veiled implication that Mrs. Abel needs moral correction—that she should "go straight." The humor lies in this patronizing, judgmental pitch disguised as a promotional gimmick, highlighting how moralistic language masked social control efforts. Both pieces mock American moral rigidity and paternalism toward women.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
6 Captain Billy's Whiz Bang or weak-minded to trot his girl off to the family church for an evening's “loving.” So far as smoking is concerned, if the girls want to wiggle a mean cheroot its none of our business. English women smoke when and where they please. It has become such a familiar sight that the actions of New York and Chicago city officials of a few weeks back seem absurd even to an old farmer from Robbinsdale. * * * But Gus' brother once remarked that Robbinsdale was no one-horse town—so perhaps we cannot be taken as a criterion of the sentiments along “Main Street” in the ordinary small community. * * * BURSTING with the spring urge some “contrib” from the West Coast sends in a clipping from the San Jose (Cal.) News. It reads: “If Mrs. Abel will call at the News office she will receive two complimentary tickets to ‘Go Straight.’ ” It is sincerely hoped that Mrs. Abel followed the