Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, March 1924 · page 58 of 71
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang #57 — page 58: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three separate gossip items and satirical commentary typical of early 20th-century scandal sheets. The first item attributes to "Rogers" (likely Will Rogers, the famous humorist) a cynical joke about missionary work: Western churches and film studios send missionaries and movies to "heathens" who, the joke implies, are sophisticated enough to dismiss both—eating missionaries if appetizing, laughing off the films. The satire mocks Western cultural imperialism and self-congratulatory missionary efforts. The second item celebrates elderly actor Bert Woodruff's marriage to his childhood sweetheart, presenting romantic sentiment as triumphing over age. The third, longest item ridicules Mrs. Daniel Sully, wife of a wealthy cotton broker, over her son Billy's $200,000 lawsuit by actress "extra girl" Yvonne Darcy. The satire targets the scandal's impact on financial markets and Mrs. Sully's apparent denial of her son's misconduct—mocking both high society's pretensions and maternal blindness to scandal.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Farmyard Fun and Filosofy 53 “Churches send missionaries and the producers send moving pictures to the heathen,” Rogers explained, in substance. “These selfsame heathens know a thing or two and so they barbecue the missionaries and laugh at the movies. If a missionary is fat and succulent, why it’s all right; but if he isn’t a toothsome tid-bit, it takes a long time for the movies to take the bad taste out of the heathens’ mouths.” • • • Bert Woodruff, a sixty-eight-year-old actor, has married his childhood sweetheart of fifty-five years ago. Woodruff is appearing in a Tully production. What does old age amount to anyway when one’s heart is young and his ambition beating strong? • • • MRS. DANIEL SULLY, wife of the wealthy New York cotton broker, wore a long face at the recent holiday charity event. It was all because Billy Sully, twenty-two-year-old son, got sued for $200,000 damages. Yvonne Darcy, an extra girl, started the rumpus. News of the suit is said to have knocked the cotton exchange off a couple of points and raised hob with the cotton bathing suit market where the beach beauties trade exclusively. The allegations were said to have been a great shock to Mother Sully, who wouldn’t believe them.