Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, April 1923 · page 12 of 68
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang #44 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**First joke**: A banker offers Pat a loan if he can guess which of the banker's eyes is real (implying one is glass or artificial). Pat correctly identifies the right eye as real, then explains he knew because the left eye "looks far more sympathetic"—satirizing bankers as naturally unsympathetic and cold in their dealings. **Second joke**: A stranger asks Deacon Callahan where to find alcohol. The deacon points to the Baptist Church, then reveals it's "the only place you can't get it." This satirizes Prohibition-era hypocrisy: while churches preached temperance, alcohol was readily available nearly everywhere else in America. The joke implies even supposedly virtuous institutions were surrounded by widespread bootlegging and drinking. Both jokes target perceived character flaws in authority figures—bankers' callousness and religious leaders' ineffectiveness at enforcing moral standards.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
12 Captain Billy's Whiz Bang the first guess, which is my real eye, I’ll grant you this loan.” Pat hesitated a moment: “Your right one is your real one, sir,” he answered. “You are correct,” said the banker in a dis- appointed tone. “But tell me how you knew so quickly.” That’s quite easy,” replied Pat. “You see, your left one looks far more sympathetic.” A STRANGER walked up to Deacon Calla- han one day last fall and asked him where he could get a drink of booze. The deacon pointed down the street and says: “See that old building down there? Well, that’s the Baptist Church.” “But,” says the stranger, “You don’t mean to say that you can get whisky at the Baptist Church?” “Nope,” says the Deacon, “That’s the only place you can’t get it.” YOURS until flowers grow on Rubber Plants. Whiz Bang Bill.