Kilroy?

[Johnny_L.A]

@betenoir

There was a real Kilroy!!!??? Colour me gobsmacked (and no I don’t no what colour that is).

There was a real Murphy (of Murphy’s Law fame) as well.

Yeah, I know I posted that link in another thread a couple of days ago; but it’s a fascinating story, and EAFB is my old stomping grounds.

[movingfinger]

When I was a kid my dad brought home a little plastic Kilroy, designed to be worn in a shirt pocket (much like nerd-packs later). His long nose and the fingers of his hands extended over to the outside of the pocket, and a small screw could be tightened to hold Kilroy in place.

The whole thing was about two inches by two inches, and liver-red, for some reason. I said it was plastic, but it may have been Bakelite. This was the late forties. I am sixty-three.

I wonder what such an object would fetch on e-Bay these days?

[Gerome]

I’m 21, and only learnt about Kilroy from Thomas Pynchon’s V. I had, however, seen it around before that, but had no idea it had any significance.

[GIGObuster]

                                        KILROY
                                             WAS
                                               HERE!
              _______
            /   o o   \
-----o000---!---/ \---!---000o----
               (___)

40 here, I found the phrase first in the Loony Toones cartoons and later in the Straight dope report by Dex.

However, I could have seen that first (circa 1975) in an Asimov tale: a time traveler, under tight controls, goes back in time to only observe WWII. The time managers scanned the area an observer could be put in and then removed safely, but the traveler could not resist leaving a message:

Someone, perhaps that man running for shelter, would read it and know that along with all the heroes of the twentieth century was the “pure observer,” the man from the thirtieth century, George Kilroy. He was there!

“The Message”, by Isaac Asimov, in “Earth Is Room Enough” 1955

[betenoir]

For the record my SO tells me Mr. Chad is still in circulation…altough no doubt less so than 50 years ago. But still there. And he looks just like Kilroy.

[Troy_McClure_SF]

I know the Kilroy thing due to countless back issues of MAD Magazine I bought when I was a kid. Both of my knowledge of history comes from these and old Donald Duck/Carl Barks comics.

[Jake]

@KlondikeGeoff

In what will probably be a futile attempt to dispel ignorance, in WWII (in which I served toward the end), “Kilroy Was Here” was just about everywhere there was a flat surface on which to write.

However, only those words appeared. It was an entirely different thing where the little guy looking over the fence was drawn. He was not Kilroy, but SMOE. Usually he appeared alone, but sometimes “SMOE” was written underneath. I don’t know what the hell that stood for.

It’s probably far too late to separate the two now, alas. Anyhoo, I’m 79.

Maybe it was Al Capp’s SHMOO. Shmoo not Schmoo from Al Capp's Little Li'l Abner

[Governor_Quinn]

I am familiar with it, I no longer remember where I learned about it (except that the knowledge came about a decade ago), and I am 21.