Thursday, November 29, 2012

Junk Drawer: "Tad" Dorgan Pin, Ca. 1914


This tiny pin, a little smaller than a nickel, is the only example of "TAD" merchandise of which I am aware. It was a premium for Tokio Cigarettes, and I've seen references to these being from about 1912, but the military uniform makes me think it's from WWI, probably circa 1914.

What the heck does it mean? I have no idea. Is it a foreign policy gag? Are those military encampment tents in the background, or are they teepees? If the latter, is it a joke about the cavalry's relationship with native Americans? Such a political statement would be uncharacteristic of Dorgan. More likely this is just yet another bit of Tad slang whose meaning is lost in the mists of time (UPDATED, see below).

Cartoonists and syndicates had a rather laissez-faire attitude towards merchandising in the early days of the comic strip. The syndicates' attitude was that no publicity was bad publicity, so they took little notice of companies making use of their properties, figuring it would draw traffic to the newspapers, and they certainly took no interest in controlling such use. Some cartoonists enthusiastically embraced the commercial opportunities merchandising presented, particularly R. F. Outcault, who made a fortune from Buster Brown's popularity. It wasn't until the Popeye and Mickey Mouse juggernauts hit in the 1930s (after Tad's time) that the syndicates took notice and asserted control over the gold mine they previously didn't even know was there.

I'm indebted to Richard Marschall, whose essay on Popeye merchandising in the last volume of Fantagraphics' essential Thimble Theatre reprints for the information above.

UPDATE: According to Pony Pal Mark Newgarden, Tokio issued several Tad pinbacks. The phrase was used on many different designs, probably a popular slang term at the time, and may not have had any direct relation to the illustration at all. Thanks again, Mark!

10 comments:

Comrade Physioprof said...

Do you actually have that pin? Cause that is fucken awesome!

Lazy Media said...

Found two movies on imdb from 1916 and 1925 with that exact title. Definitely was a catchphras,

Peteykins said...

Yeah, Physioprof, anything I feature in the "junk drawer" or "art collection" categories is from my own collection.

Amy said...

Ooh, an antique meme!

Anonymous said...

Wow, very very cool.

Peteykins said...

Amy, that's what Tad's work was all about. A major part of his job was to intentionally attempt to spread catchphrases as far and wide as possible. He was practically a one-man Tumblr/Twitter/Facebook/YouTube in his day.

Karen Zipdrive said...

The dog who lives across the street is named Buster Brown and that thing could gnaw the bark off a tree or chew your leg off just for the heck of it.
Alas, the very mention of the name Buster Brown has distracted me from fully appreciating this latest junk drawer discovery of yours.

nothere said...

I vote for army tents. Look at a pack of Bugler cigarette tobacco.

nothere said...

Ouch, I should have checked that first. It used to show the bugler standing full figure in front of a row of tents.

samael7 said...

I wonder if it's related to an old kids' "game."

Apple-eater finishes apple, says "Applecore" to a group of friends. Everyone shouts "Baltimore," but the first person to get there gets asked (by the core-holder) "Who's your friend?" and then the core gets thrown at whoever the "winner" names.

Since the guy is in a soldier's outfit, you can guess what unpleasant things that might get thrown at him. Which would sort of fit along with Tad's darker sense of humor.

You might remember that exchange between Chip and Dale and Donald Duck -- that's when I first heard it, and it went totally over my head until I had the game explained to me. So it's at least that old, but it's not likely that Disney (or his cohorts) invented it, so it probably does date back at least to Tad's time, which *would* correspond with Disney and his cohorts' younger days.