Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, August 1922 · page 29 of 67
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang #36 — page 29: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a humor column of disconnected quips and observations rather than a cartoon. The satire targets early 1920s social anxieties: **Automobiles & Morality**: References to cars "committing suicide" after trips to roadhouses mock the era's concern about motor cars enabling moral decay and young people's misbehavior. **Drug Addiction**: Direct jabs at drug use ("dope deferred") and a suggested motto for rehabilitation facilities reflect Prohibition-era anxieties about substance abuse. **Fashion Debates**: Commentary on women's hemlines—"long skirts vs. short skirts"—touches the period's heated cultural argument over modest versus modern dress. Lewis Baumer's quote about "what's in the skirt" is a suggestive double entendre. **General Absurdism**: Jokes about beetles in cars and lazy mule handlers provide lighthearted filler typical of satirical magazines mixing social criticism with nonsense humor. The page captures 1920s concerns: automobiles, drugs, women's changing roles, and moral propriety.
📄 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 Ba. 27 Pasture Pot Pourri Aphorism of An Addict “Dope deferred maketh the heart sick.” * * * Count that morning 'ost on which no motor car is found having committed suicide from loss of self respect on the way home from a “chicken dinner” roadhouse. * * * Buggy, Buggy! “Step on it, chauffeur,” said the old lady, as the beetle crawled out from under the seat. * * * “Beautiful faces need beautiful clothes”: That is the way the ballad goes; But one may add to it, I suppose, “Beautiful ankles need beautiful hose.” * * * Suggested motto for drug cure institute: “Abandon dope all ye that enter here.” * * * Touching this question of long skirts vs. short skirts, Lewis Baumer seems to have put a clincher on the whole discussion with his trenchant pronouncement, “It’s a ques- tion of what’s in the skirt.” * * * The laziest man I ever heard of was the one who said “Whoa-back, get-up” when currying off a mule.