Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, April 1923 · page 28 of 68
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang #44 — page 28: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains several short satirical pieces typical of 1920s humor magazines: **"Pays Her Installments at Home"** mocks class differences and credit systems. Joan brags her mother pays bills in shops (respectable), while Doris sneers that creditors come to *their* house—implying working-class debt collection and inability to afford cash purchases. **The powder joke** satirizes masculinity anxieties: a boy removes powder from his lapel to avoid appearing effeminate, reflecting period concerns about men maintaining conventional masculine appearance. **"Parisian Passion"** uses exaggerated French romanticism to mock lovers' pretense: she speaks of eternal love from her "heart"; he hopes it's "free" because he's thinking of his stomach—contrasting female romantic idealism with male self-interest and materialism. **The Sunday School joke** is risqué for its era: it implies "bad girls" meet traveling salesmen at train depots for illicit purposes, playing on period anxieties about unmarried women's morality and transient male workers. These pieces rely on period class consciousness, gender stereotypes, and dated moral concerns about women's respectability.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
28 Captain Billy's Whiz Bang Pays Her Installments at Home Two kiddies were engaged in a bragging match. “My mummies’s gone to the shops to pay some bills,’ vaunted Joan. “My mummie doesn’t have to,” sneered Doris. “The men come to the house for ours.” *** “I don’t want to keep that school-girl complexion,” said the boy as he brushed the powder off his lapel. *** Parisian Passion By Jack O’Lantern “Mon Dieu, how you love me,” she breathed. Yes, she breathed even though he was loving her. “I do love you,” he breathed. But then, breathing had become such a habit with him that he did it all the time. “I hope our love will be free and eternal!” came a low murmur from the depths of her full heart. “At least I hope it will be free,” came the murmur from the depths of his full stomach. *** Dream not of the future, The present is all you have, The future will soon be the present, And the present will soon be the past. *** Shame on You, Charley (From the Flint Journal) Wanted—Housekeeper who is willing to go anywhere. Meet me 3 to 6 at fountain by Union Trust Bank. Chas. Bellinger. *** Old and Mild But Satisfying Sunday School Teacher—“Where do good little girls go?” Little Girl—“To heaven.” Sunday School Teacher—“Where do bad little girls go?” Little Girl—“Down to the depot to see the traveling men come in.”