Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, August 1922 · page 15 of 67
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang #36 — page 15: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is satirical commentary on summer reading habits and pulp fiction. The opening toast objectifies a woman named Mary, hoping her skirt will reveal her legs—typical of 1920s flapper-era humor. The main article mocks lightweight summer novels, claiming readers don't want to "think" during warm months. It parodies absurd B.V.D. (underwear brand) plot devices with an intentionally ridiculous plot synopsis: a worthless rich boy (Algernon/"Algy") fights an undertaker over whether babies hallucinate milk snakes from drinking, the undertaker falls 243 feet but climbs back up a thread, Algy elopes with a judge's daughter in a taxi, crashes on South Sea islands, finds a marriage license in Cracker Jack, and marries in an airplane while sitting on a beer keg. The satire targets the absurdity and moral looseness of popular cheap fiction aimed at young couples ("flapper's fiancé"), particularly the casual treatment of alcohol, elopement, and scandalous behavior that real society condemned but pulp magazines sensationalized for summer 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 13 So—here's to Mary and her skirt, in sum- mer white as snow; and every limb that Mary has, we hope that skirt will show. * * * AMONG recent welcome visitors at the Whiz Bang farm was Lee W. Woodman- see, of Spokane, who distributes Whiz Bangs for us in several Coast states. Accord- ing to Brer Woodmansee, folk don't like to read heavy stuff during the summer months. In other words, they don't like to think. In the summer, publishers put out nice, cool books with B. V. D. plots containing well ventilated characters—just right for flapper's fiance in a hammock. The average plot for a summer novel reads something like this: Algernon Gibson, worth- less and handsome son of a rich father, has a stiff argument with an undertaker as to whether a baby sees milk snakes as a result of excessive drinking. They end in a clinch; the undertaker falls down a 243-foot well, climbs up a silk thread and has Algernon arrested. Algy immediately falls in love with the judge's daughter; they elope in one of Dick Ferris' Black and White taxis and are wrecked on the South Sea Islands. Algy finds a marriage license in a box of cracker jack and they are wedded in an aeroplane. The Examiner artist immediately gets a photo showing Algy sitting on a velvet covered beer keg, while Minnie stands blushing at his side reading the August