Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, July 1922 · page 47 of 67
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang #35 — page 47: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satirical column from the 1920s mocks several targets: **The Bathing Suit Controversy**: The author criticizes censorship hypocrisy—revealing two-piece swimsuits (attributed to filmmaker Mack Sennett) are worn openly on beaches by flappers but prohibited on film by censors. He notes the absurdity that "inland America" can't see on screen what exists in reality. **"Wood Alcohol" Reference**: A darkly comic jab at Prohibition-era drinking—men supposedly risk blindness consuming dangerous bootleg liquor while simultaneously being scandalized by women's bathing attire. **Long Island Studio Misconduct**: The second section alleges sexual harassment at an unnamed studio where a director pressures aspiring actresses—they can either leave "insulted or remain and blush." The author challenges why Hollywood monopolizes blame for immorality when the problem is systemic and industry-wide. The overall tone: frustrated at moral double standards—censorship of women's bodies on film while real exploitation goes unchecked.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
46 Captain Billy's Whiz Bang wear in severe weather. These were held in place by a ribbon around the model's neck. We don't know what the stern beach police are going to do about it, but everywhere you see tight fitting two-piece bathing suits of Mack Sennett design, plus rolled socks, worn by pretty flappers. And stripes are popular. We caught one of white and yellow stripes that was decidedly revealing. Yet mere males go on risking their valuable eyesight with wood alcohol. The funny part of the whole thing lies in the fact that you can see these skin tight bathing suits occupied by decidedly pulchritudinous femininity in real life but the screen censors prevent you seeing it in the films. It's hard on inland America, but we won't be able to worry about it until next Fall. * * * THE Eastern movie world is as silent as a tomb. Yet Hollywood may have to look to its sensational newspaper laurels if certain doings at a Long Island studio leak out. Here—where presides a low brow megaphoner recently from the coast and the recent director to a well known actress of foreign birth—the feminine aspirants can either depart insulted or remain and blush. Isn't it time for the movies to pass this primitive stage? And why must Hollywood get all the blame? Curiously, this same movie organization has recently been