Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, April 1923 · page 7 of 68
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang #44 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satirical piece contains multiple jokes about Prohibition-era America and Southern hospitality: **The Blease reference** appears to reference a political figure (likely Cole Blease, South Carolina governor), mocked for being "too late" to protect bootleggers—a jab at Prohibition's failure and widespread illegal alcohol production. **The dandelion joke** satirizes how Prohibition made people suddenly interested in plants' fermentation potential, revealing alcohol's grip on American culture. **The main satire targets Florida resort hotels**: their excessive courtesy masks predatory pricing schemes. The joke notes that con artists sold non-existent hotels to tourists, who believed their weekly receipts were property deeds—exposing both tourist gullibility and hotel dishonesty. **The final dig** at Southern "Dixie" economics suggests hotels must charge exorbitant rates during their brief 3-4 month tourist season to stay profitable, while even the rain financially victimizes visitors. Overall, the page mocks Prohibition's social effects, tourist exploitation, and Southern economic desperation.
📄 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 Bang 7 We suggested to Blease that he form a society for the prevention of cruelty to bootleggers. “Too late now,” said he. “You can’t wet your whistle with the whiskey that has passed.” Perhaps he is right. Lots of people never saw beauty in a dandelion until after its alcoholic possibilities were pointed out. IT SEEMS timely, in passing, to remark on the very high quality of Southern resort hotels. One is treated with utmost courtesy and supreme service and even the cashier smiles when she passes the weekly statement through the small wicker window. It is reported that these sweet-smiling cashiers indirectly have been the cause of making Florida a hotbed of swindlers. Many confidence men have been arrested for attempting to sell hotels they did not own. Their defense was the belief that their receipted weekly bill was a transfer of title. Well, I suppose we shouldn’t blame the hotel owners for high prices when we consider that they have only three or four months in which to rake in the mazuma. Yea, verily, when you talk of the high cost of living, the only thing that’s coming down in Dixie is the rain—and even that soaks you.