Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, April 1923 · page 18 of 68
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang #44 — page 18: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page from the satirical magazine contains several brief jokes exploiting ethnic stereotypes common in 1920s American humor. The opening anecdote mocks a Swedish immigrant ("Ole Johnson") encountering cinema for the first time, using exaggerated dialect ("Ay vent in vun place where dey squirt pictures on de wall") to generate humor from his unfamiliarity with the technology and broken English. The "What Is So Rare as a Day In June?" section presents absurdist riddles with impossible or contradictory answers—a standard joke format of the era. The college joke relies on innuendo about dating and sexual necessity. The Hollywood item references Eddie Laemmle (likely a film industry figure) and makes light of sensationalist filmmaking focusing on women's bodies. The final line uses a pun—"Maggie...speaks in broken China"—playing on her Irish ethnicity while referencing the phrase "broken English," suggesting she speaks in broken Chinese instead, which doesn't logically follow. The humor throughout depends on ethnic caricature, dialect mockery, and wordplay typical of period comedy magazines.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
18 Captain Billy's Whiz Bang No, It Wasn't a Vamp Picture Ole Johnson came directly from the forests in Sweden to a lumber camp in northern Minne-sota. On a recent visit to the village of Pequot he saw the moving pictures for the first time in his life. “You yust bet Ay had gude time,” he said, relating his experience back at camp, “An’ would you believe me? Ay vent in vun place where dey squirt pictures on de wall!” * * * I’ve quit the holdup game, I’ll hang around the joint no more, With a little sigh and a little cry, The garter stretched out on the floor. * * * What Is So Rare as a Day In June? TWO SKELETONS FLIRTING ON A TIN ROOF. NICKEL-PLATED ICICLES. GOLDEN SPURS ON POGO STICKS. TEDDY BEARS IN A PAWNSHOP WINDOW. * * * These College Cut-ups (From the University of Virginia Reel) She—“Do you always take the other girls for such long walks?” He—“No, it isn’t always necessary.” * * * Out at Universal City near Hollywood, Eddie Laemmle sent a cameraman to photograph white mice running up a woman’s ankle and he returned with quite a number of close-up views. * * * Gus says that Maggie, the cook, may be Irish but that she speaks in broken China.