Captain Billy's Whiz Bang #59 — page 21: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This gossip column from *Whiz-Bang* (April 1, 1924) targets Barbara LaMarr, a silent film actress. The satire mocks her tumultuous personal life: she was evicted from her apartment for making loud bath splashes, her marriage to Jack Dougherty is legally questionable (since she may still be married to Ben Deely), and she's separated from Dougherty while he takes up with someone else. The humor is cruel Hollywood gossip—portraying LaMarr as a philanderer caught in serial marriages and affairs. Ben Deely is characterized as a "gay butterfly" (meaning frivolous man) now courting the recently-divorced Mrs. Monte Blue. The column implies LaMarr's chaotic love life follows her everywhere, even causing domestic disputes over bathroom noise. The tone is typical of *Whiz-Bang*'s irreverent celebrity mockery.