Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, April 1923 · page 20 of 68
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang #44 — page 20: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page from the satirical magazine *Captain Billy's Whiz Bang* is a gossip column mocking 1920s Hollywood figures and scandals. The column ridicules film directors and actors through anecdotes: one director effusively praises actress Pola Negri's talent until another (formerly a boxer) crudely reduces her to physical attractiveness. The "Four Roses" reference likely denotes whiskey passed around during this conversation, satirizing both the pretension and the drinking culture. Subsequent items mock actors John Bowers, Marguerite de la Motte, and others for romantic entanglements and infidelity. The Doris Eaton item sensationalizes her husband Joe Gorham's theft from "a trusting film star." The final item about director Billy Wellman and actress Helene Chadwick sarcastically suggests their marriage is so unstable that dinner guests must call ahead—they may be separated that day. The humor relies on readers' familiarity with these minor Hollywood personalities and scandalous behavior presented as entertainment.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
20 Captain Billy's Whiz Bang ONE director, who used to pony Latin students, was raving in his own intellectual way over Pola Negri. He said she had great emotional powers, heightened imagination, color, depth, terrific dramatic perception, etc., etc., etc. “She’s more biteable than kissable,” broke in another director who used to knock ’em out in the ring before art called him to the screen. And the Four Roses went the rounds again. * * * John Bowers and Marguerite de la Motte are seen together dancing at the cafes quite frequently. Marguerite was formerly engaged to Mitchell Leisen, the art director, who, ’tis said, designed her clothes with an expert’s ability and fitted her bronze hair and long lashed hazel gold eyes into a wonderful decorative scheme of things. Then, Marguerite, having become ultra-chic, used all the secrets of her fiance’s expensive art education in winning another! * * * THEY say sweet little Doris Eaton’s entire family is trying to entice her to New York and away from Joe Gorham, her recently wedded spouse, who was arrested during Breakfast Number 1 for snitching $10,000 from a trusting film star. * * * When you are asked to the Billy Wellman-Helene Chadwick home for dinner you never know whether they will be there or not. It is always best to ’phone in advance, for many times a squabble has rent the house in twain during the afternoon and no one is at home! Billy was a famous flyer in France—a Lafayette Esquadrille man—but when he came home the Goldwyn