Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, December 1924 · page 20 of 71
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang #67 — page 20: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three separate humorous items from an early 20th-century American satirical magazine. **"Tuning In In Sing Sing"** jokes about an inmate ("Jimmy, The Yegg"—slang for burglar) in Sing Sing prison who receives a radio. The humor lies in the inmates' makeshift ingenuity (using bedsprings as antenna, water faucet as ground) and the cell-buddy's darkly ironic hope that tuning the radio might somehow help him escape ("git O-U-T"). **The Algy/Bulgy exchange** is a simple pun: Algy assumes "Bulgy" smokes cigar *butts* (cigarette scraps), but clarifies he means whole cigars—implying Bulgy is poor or miserly. **"The Old Rooster Says"** offers cynical relationship commentary: the comparison between love's initial romance and marriage's ongoing effort is like the easy downhill sled ride versus the exhausting uphill return—suggesting marriage requires constant labor. The rooster illustration is a traditional mascot for rustic wisdom in period humor publications.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
=[Captain Billy’s Whiz Bang]= Tuning In In Sing Sing Jimmy, The Yegg, was “doing a bit,” and his pals presented him with a small radio set to help murder the time. By using the bedsprings as an aerial and grounding on the water faucet, he finally got it to working. He tuned in on a number of stations, enthus- iastically reporting each success to his cell- buddy, who was an interested spectator. “I got X-Y-Z now, Spike,” he whispered excitedly. “Fine!” exclaimed his cell-buddy. “Keep on turnin’ that gimmick, an’ maybe youse can git O-U-T.” * * * Algy—“Do you like cigars?” Bulgy—“Yes, but—” Algy—“No! No! I mean whole cigars!” * * * The Old Rooster Says: My idea of a good comparison between love and marriage is pulling the sled back up hill. =[18]=