Andronicus Brothers help with Political Campaign?
"Gump For Congress at AndronicusGreat acclamation and a series of stirring speeches followed the illustrious Andy as he rode down Broadway at Los Angeles when the A. P. X. of U of Southern California put on a real old time campaign. Pledge T. L. Pletsch played the part of Andy."
Turns out, the cartoon of the day called "The Gumps", which was written by Sidney Smith, and began its run in 1917. The strip featured a main character named Andy Gump, who in 1922, ran for congress. Subsequently, he ran for president in 1924.
What this has to do with our brothers play-acting a political campaign on his behalf, I have not yet been able to figure out.
Was this some sort of college age fad of the 1920's? (I mean, after all they were a good 25 years way from having televisions and movies weren't even talking yet).
What I do know is that there was a series of pinbacks made to promote these fictional congressional and presidential campaigns. The image included is one of them, dated to the 1920's.
Thanks to collector Mark Lansdown (www.marklansdown.com) for the image.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWe can presume Theo Pletsch was tall and gangly in 1922. I wonder if he shaved his head to match Andy Gump's bald pate.
ReplyDeleteYou don't need TV or talkies to mimic the newspaper.
Swallowing goldfish and the craze for raccoon coats, those fads from that era remain more famous. However, I don't recall mentions of those in the Archi.
Ha ha. I think we might have read the same article about college fads. stuffing people into phone booths didn't come until the 50's. but all hell broke loose when streaking became the thing to do.
ReplyDeleteMy senior year, our chapter re-enacted a Jerry Springer show. Charlie Morley played Jerry & Scott Utter played Steve, the security guard. It was great.
Goldfish, raccoon coats and rumble seats were shorthand in Mad Magazine for 1920s college students well into the 1970s and early 80s.
ReplyDelete