I thought twice, then hesitated to write this piece, then figured, oh, what the heck ....
With all the hoopla regarding the upcoming presidential election and the onslaught of political debates, divisive television commercials, biased news commentary, racial prejudice, social injustice and general pandemonium, I thought I’d take a humorous look back at the lighter side of presidential politics to a time when America was “great again” ....
In the post World War II era, the late 1940‘s and 1950’s, 'Popeye the Sailor' and his girlfriend, Olive Oyl, were popular cartoon characters. If you’re a baby boomer like me you’ll remember these characters fondly. The trademark beefy-forearmed, spinach-eating Popeye, Olive, the hamburger-eating Wimpy, and Brutis (Popeye’s nemesis sometimes called Bluto) were the main characters. Popeye and Bluto were always fighting over Olive, and Wimpy was always trying to “gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.”
‘Popeye’ the film starring Robin Williams was made in 1980.
Politics crept into these cartoon scripts and at one point in 1948 Olive Oyl was presented as running for president with a famously mnemonic song outlining her plan and policies, ‘If I Were President’ ...and then in 1953 Popeye himself was presented as running for president. These cartoons were loved by millions of kids, me being one, and our parents loved them too.
These animated cartoons still hold their own today and I’d like to share them with you in an effort to relieve some of the current pressure and election tension. First Olive Oyl. In fact, the main body this cartoon was use in the 2012 presidential election as a promotion piece to 'get out and vote'. Maybe you remember it. Note that this cartoon was made in 1948 right after the war, so there are many references to the issues and signs of those times. Especially, note the reference to the silk worms making silk stockings for women. Silk stockings were scarce back then due to the war effort when silk was a needed commodity for making parachutes ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CUj_f9CoQk
This is the same cartoon in its’ entirety from the beginning ...
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=popeye+the+sailor+man+olive+oyl+for+president&view
A few years later, Popeye ran for president with the same zeal as Olive but with Popeye’s own personal brand of ...personality. In Popeye’s language President is spoken as ‘Presidink’, and Elephant is spoken as ‘Elephink’ ...you’ll see what I mean. Oh, yes, and Popeye’s game plan was a simple but effective one ...“What we needs is bigger elephinks in all our zoos”, and “A vote for Popeye means free ice cream for all the kiddies” ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Hjaq61GvZE
You don’t have to sit (or suffer) through these cartoons as they take about 5 or 6 minutes each to watch. But at the same time you may find them oddly enjoyable and lightheartedly refreshing compared to the cruel and vicious campaigning going on now regarding the 2020 election.
President Trump wants to make America great again. Well, these vintage cartoons were made at that time to which he refers. Whether those times were indeed “great” is a personal opinion for each of us to examine.
For some they were good days, happy days, for others they were not so good. But isn’t that the way it always is? ...and so it goes ...
John Kushma is a communication consultant and lives in Logan, Utah.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-george-kushma-379a5762
