Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, August 1922 · page 25 of 67
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang #36 — page 25: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains gossip items satirizing wealthy socialites and celebrities. The first item mocks "Mildred," a young woman sued by importer Henri Bendel for $2,500 in unpaid clothing from 1920. The satire targets her lawyer's defense: claiming she's a minor and therefore legally exempt from debt—the item's arch tone ("Perfectly simple!") ridicules this apparent loophole allowing the wealthy to evade obligations. The longer piece concerns dancer Isadora Duncan, the famous pioneer of modern dance. It catalogs her scandalous personal life: her long affair with stage designer Gordon Craig (with whom she had three children), the tragic 1913 drowning of two of those children in the Seine, her 1921 involvement in an "alienation of affections" lawsuit (implying she seduced a married man), and her recent marriage to a much-younger Russian poet. The tone is sensationalistic gossip, presenting Duncan's romantic entanglements and family tragedies as fodder for public ridicule.
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Captain Billy's Whiz Bang 23 didn't come out until horrid Henri Bendel, the New York importer, sued Mildred for a $2,500 gown and some lingerie which she bought in 1920. Mildred only paid $100 cash for the gar- ments. Henri has been very annoying, present- ing his bill over and over again. Mildred doesn't have to pay it, of course. Her lawyer alleged she is a minor and therefore not liable for debt. Perfectly simple! Back to the rag dolls, Mildred! * * * ISADORE DUNCAN, the original high priestess of the barefoot dance, has just married a Russian poet, twenty-seven years of age. Miss Duncan is well into her forties. The life of this dancer has been filled with romance and tragedy. No record or nuptials between Miss Duncan and Gordon Craig, a son of Ellen Terry, were ever recorded, but it is known that a romance existed between the two for a number of years, for three children were born of that union. In 1913 two of the children, Patrick, aged six, and Doody, aged three, were drowned in the River Seine when an automobile in which they were riding plunged off the Pont de Neuilly, just outside of Paris. One child survived the tragedy. In 1921 Miss Duncan's name was mentioned in an action for alienation of affections in which she was mentioned as a love pirate in her relations with a married man. A year ago, a millionaire “angel” withdrew