Captain Billy's Whiz Bang #45 — page 53: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This column from *Whiz Bang* (page 51) is entertainment gossip rather than political satire. The text discusses Hollywood production troubles: **Mary Pickford** and director **Ernest Lubitsch** (recently arrived from Berlin) attempted two films—"Dorothy Vernon of Hadden Hall" and "Faust"—but abandoned them partway through. The column reports that Lubitsch's vision clashed with Pickford's capabilities; she couldn't convincingly play the morally complex character Marguerite, so they halted production. The piece also mocks **Famous Players-Lasky's** casting choice of **Pola Negri** in "Bella Donna," noting the original character was villainous but the film sanitizes her into "a pure gell" controlled by hypnosis—a significant softening of the source material. This reflects 1920s-era Hollywood's commercial caution about depicting morally ambiguous female characters.