Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, March 1924 · page 65 of 71
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang #57 — page 65: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page from *Whiz Bang*, a humor magazine popular in the 1920s-30s, contains several satirical pieces targeting social hypocrisy and masculine pretension. **"Oh! Those Shotgun Blues"** mocks marriage troubles through regional editorial banter—Eastern, Western, and Southern editors trade quips about infidelity and broken promises, suggesting marital discord was widespread regardless of region or commitment level. **"Cynical Mutterings"** presents bleak observations about fair-weather friendship and social status, claiming people abandon you when you're broke ("haven't got the jack") and suggesting dependence on friends is foolish. The **ex-soldier/ex-pressman exchange** sarcastically deflates masculine boasting—both men claim importance from past employment, with the pressman's deadpan one-upmanship suggesting such claims are equally hollow. The **autograph album rhyme** is a cheeky double-entendre about not "shaking trees" (sexual proposition), typical of the magazine's risqué humor for a male audience. Overall, the page satirizes infidelity, false friendship, and masculine vanity.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
60 Captain Billy's Whiz Bang Oh! Those Shotgun Blues An Eastern editor says that a man got him- self in trouble by marrying two wives. A West- ern contemporary replies by assuring the East- ern editor that a good many men in his section have done the same thing by only marrying one. A Southern editor retorts that quite a number of his acquaintances got into trouble enough by only promising to marry. And Gus has a chum who was bothered enough simply by being found in company with another man's wife. * * * One-piece bathing suits are immodest to one-piece minds. * * * Cynical Mutterings “When winds of failure start to blow”—man alive you’re through; Your friends will leave you flatter than the morning leaves the dew. No matter what your friendships were, if valued true and high, When you haven’t got the jack, my boy, the gang will pass you by. And when you die upon your stone, this epitaph Life lends: “Here lies a guy, a saphead, who depended on his friends!” * * * “The world should be proud of me. I’m an ex-soldier.” “That’s nothing. Look at me, I’m an ex-pressman.” * * * Here’s One For Autograph Albums Rocks in the mountains, shells in the sea, If you don’t like peaches, don’t shake my tree.