Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, August 1922 · page 26 of 67
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang #36 — page 26: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page from the satirical *Captain Billy's Whiz Bang* contains celebrity gossip and scandal items targeting 1920s entertainment figures. The content mocks: **Isadora Duncan** — The famous dancer's association with Soviet ideals and Lenin is presented as ridiculous bohemianism (dancing "barefooted and barelegged"). **Rudolph Valentino** — His bigamy charge prompts authorities to investigate other actors, suggesting Hollywood marriage scandals were rampant. **Henry B. Walthall** — Actor criticized for divorcing and immediately remarrying his leading lady—implying opportunistic sexual behavior. **Mollie King** — A former actress desperate for publicity who recklessly accepted conflicting endorsement contracts (Star Vibrator and Diamond Dyes simultaneously), suggesting she'd compromise her reputation for easy money. The magazine's tone is cynical and moralistic, using these items to satirize 1920s celebrity culture as shallow, hypocritical, and scandal-prone.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
24 Captain Billy's Whiz Bang his support of Miss Duncan's school in Paris. She then went to Moscow, where she became enamored of the Soviet ideals. It is said she danced, barefooted and barelegged under Lenine's window, while Lenine himself looked out with great approval. The young groom of the dancer is Serge Esenin, considered one of the most gifted of the younger Russian poets of today. * * * WHEN the charge of bigamy was brought against Valentino the records of other stage stars were searched by the author- ities. Henry B. Walthall was included in the list. Five years ago Walthall was divorced by Isabelle Fenton, an actress, in Chicago, and five days later he married his leading lady. * * * MOLLIE KING, former bright light in the movies, has involved herself in diffi- culties—all because she craved pub- licity. The Fitzgerald Manufacturing Company of Vermont, thought it would help push the Star Vibrator sales if Mollie's pictures were used in connection with their advertising campaign. For the exclusive use of her photos, testimonial and facsimile signature for one year, they gave her $1,000 in pin money. It looked so easy that Mollie went right ahead and contracted to help the Richardson- Wells Company sell Diamond Dyes and to