Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, March 1924 · page 7 of 71
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang #57 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two pieces of satirical content from *Whiz Bang* magazine: **The cartoon story** uses racist stereotypes common to early 20th-century American humor. "Rastus" (a stereotypical Black character name) and "the black knight of the whisk-broom" are working on a train. The joke involves confusion about berth placement and a woman in the lower berth—the humor relies on the setup of accidental/suggestive proximity between the male characters and the (apparently white) woman. **The second section** is a word-association game titled "Farmyard Fun and Philosophy." It invites readers to guess nursery rhymes from cryptic phrases. "Monkey-mower" presumably references "Hey Diddle Diddle" (cow jumping over moon). This was presented as entertainment to engage readers' memory and creativity. The page reflects *Whiz Bang's* satirical approach: mixing crude ethnic humor with lighthearted intellectual puzzles. The racial caricatures and dialect would be considered deeply offensive today.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Farmyard Fun and Filosophy 5 “But say, Rastus,” the puncher confided later, “you didn’t say whether to put that bear in an upper or a lower. So I stuck him in the lower.” “Growlin’ ghosts!” exclaimed the black knight of the whisk-broom. “My wife is in dar.” They both rushed back to the end of the car. They got there just in time to hear a chiding voice inside the berth. “Now that youse got done hugging me,” the voice spake, “you better take off dat fur overcoat an’ roll in.” WITHOUT consulting the well-thumbed copy of Mother Goose, how many nursery stories can you remember offhand? Not many? But isn’t recollection prodded somewhat when a catch-phrase like “Once upon a time” is given? It’s like a prompter’s cue from the wings. In the belief that it will be an interesting mental exercise, Whiz Bang gives herewith a few phrases, which may serve to conjure up some of the simple tales of childhood. “Monkey—mower.” There, what childhood picture does that present?