Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, July 1922 · page 16 of 67
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang #35 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a humor Q&A column from *Captain Billy's Whiz Bang*, a post-WWI American satirical magazine known for irreverent jokes and wordplay. The humor relies on **puns and subversions of expectations**: readers ask definitions of phrases, but receive absurd, literal, or crude answers instead. Examples include defining "Anti-Climax" as a tobacco-cruelty society (playing on "climax"), and the perfect day ending at "twelve o'clock" (midnight, implying sleep/drunkenness). One answer references "Ex-Doughboy"—slang for a WWI veteran—making a joke about soldiers refusing war bonuses, topical to the 1920s veteran experience. The final answer about "Ikey, our Jewish farm-hand" employs a **ethnic stereotype** common to the era, characterizing Jewish workers as lazy. This reflects period prejudices that modern readers would recognize as offensive rather than humorous. The column's appeal lay in its irreverence toward authority and polite society—typical of 1920s American humor magazines.
📄 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 15 Questions and Answers Dear Bill—What is considered the end of a perfect day?—Poe Kat Hello. Twelve o'clock, I reckon. * * * Dear Captain Bill—Please list the twelve greatest temptations which befall mankind.—Sassy Frass. Eleven cold bottles on a hot day and a pretty woman. * * * Dear Captain Bill—What is meant by “from the sublime to the ridiculous?”—Ex-Doughboy. If you should be offered a thousand dollars for your bonus, that would be sublime, and if you'd refuse to accept it, that would be ridicu-lous. * * * Dear Captain Billy—What is meant by “Anti-Climax?”—May Doolittle. Anti-Climax is a society for the prevention of cruelty to chewing tobacco. * * * Dear Captain Billy—What's your idea of the height of laziness? You should see Ikey, our Jewish farm-hand, sitting on a stone in the middle of the pasture