# Well, at least they were trying. (Old comics public service page.) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 22, 2026, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-at-least-they-were-trying-old-comics-public-service-page/1026915 "2026-01-22T05:21:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2026, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-at-least-they-were-trying-old-comics-public-service-page/1026915/1 "2026-01-22T05:21:01Z")
I saw this in Detective Comics 266 from 1959, thought it was unintentionally hilarious. [![](https://i.imgur.com/AS86PQA.jpeg) ](https://i.imgur.com/AS86PQA.jpeg) [![](https://i.ibb.co/gFVGztvF/Screenshot-20260116-223158-1.jpg) ](https://i.ibb.co/gFVGztvF/Screenshot-20260116-223158-1.jpg) (Uploaded to Imagr _and_ Imagebb. Hopefully this will cover everyone.) ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2026, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-at-least-they-were-trying-old-comics-public-service-page/1026915/2 "2026-01-22T05:38:08Z")
Some people might not know that “Long hair music” in 1959 referred to Classical Music. No doubt, 1950s DC would be pilloried as woke by today’s standards. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2026, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-at-least-they-were-trying-old-comics-public-service-page/1026915/3 "2026-01-22T05:47:59Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Some people might not know that “Long hair music” in 1959 referred to Classical Music. Exactly so. It wasn’t until the '60s that “unacceptably long” hair started to be associated with rock musicians. One of our local radio stations used to play, late at night, a syndicated program of old radio shows; one of the shows in their rotation was _Adventures of Superman_, typically episodes from the late '40s and early '50s. There were a number of episodes in which the show’s announcer would deliver public-service messages, encouraging young listeners to be accepting of different races and ethnicities, similar to the message on the comic-book page in the OP. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2026, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-at-least-they-were-trying-old-comics-public-service-page/1026915/4 "2026-01-22T06:32:16Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > No doubt, 1950s DC would be pilloried as woke by today’s standards. Especially since they were plugging the National Social Welfare Assembly on that page. Why does the page appear twice in the OP? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2026, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-at-least-they-were-trying-old-comics-public-service-page/1026915/5 "2026-01-22T06:36:05Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > Why does the page appear twice in the OP? > [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > (Uploaded to Imagr _and_ Imagebb. Hopefully this will cover everyone.) The UK can’t see Imgur, some others say they have problems with Imagebb, I tried both. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2026, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-at-least-they-were-trying-old-comics-public-service-page/1026915/6 "2026-01-22T06:42:00Z")
I dislike alligators and spiders. Does that lower my BQ? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2026, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-at-least-they-were-trying-old-comics-public-service-page/1026915/7 "2026-01-22T13:07:53Z")
Your answer reminds me of [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/4lYdD9DdLNY/hqdefault.jpg "Jim Stafford & Dolly Parton Sing Spiders & Snakes Branson") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lYdD9DdLNY) On a more serious note, I searched up the > **[National Social Welfare Assembly](https://socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/organizations/national-social-welfare-assembly/)** > > This organization changed its name 1n 2005 to the National Human Services Assembly. The membership of the National Assembly includes national nonprofit organizations in the health and human service… Darn shame their ~100 years of work can be out-shouted by Limbaugh / Faux / et al in the space of just 20 years. ---
**Author:** ![bobsmom101](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobsmom101/32/2867_2.png) [@bobsmom101](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobsmom101)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2026, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-at-least-they-were-trying-old-comics-public-service-page/1026915/8 "2026-01-22T13:58:28Z")
Not woke enough to include any mention of females, sadly. ---
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2026, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-at-least-they-were-trying-old-comics-public-service-page/1026915/9 "2026-01-22T14:46:50Z")
I remember these ads! I’m not old enough to have read them when they were new, but comics of that vintage sold for about a nickel each when I was a kid, so I read a lot of them. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2026, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-at-least-they-were-trying-old-comics-public-service-page/1026915/10 "2026-01-22T14:50:10Z")
There are females depicted in the illustrations. And the target audience included a lot of (“Girls are icky”) prepubescent boys. More interesting is the apparent gender-neutral use of words like “brotherhood” and “men” (in “all men are created equal”) back in the day. The same organization was responsible for the ad below. [![](https://theworld.org/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.pri.org%2Fs3fs-public%2Fembed%2F2018%2F02%2FMarionAndersonTrio_web.jpg&w=1280&q=85) ](https://theworld.org/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.pri.org%2Fs3fs-public%2Fembed%2F2018%2F02%2FMarionAndersonTrio_web.jpg&w=1280&q=85) ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2026, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-at-least-they-were-trying-old-comics-public-service-page/1026915/11 "2026-01-22T16:43:46Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > thought it was unintentionally hilarious It must seem quaint to someone who didn’t live through the 50s. Personally, I don’t see anything hilarious in it. ---
**Author:** ![bobsmom101](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobsmom101/32/2867_2.png) [@bobsmom101](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobsmom101)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2026, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-at-least-they-were-trying-old-comics-public-service-page/1026915/12 "2026-01-22T20:30:26Z")
Wow, definitely ahead of the times! They should start running it again. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2026, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-at-least-they-were-trying-old-comics-public-service-page/1026915/13 "2026-01-22T23:48:40Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > I dislike alligators and spiders. Does that lower my BQ? The answer key is in the lower-right corner. Answers for non-human likes or dislikes don’t matter, but disliking humans lowers your score. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2026, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-at-least-they-were-trying-old-comics-public-service-page/1026915/14 "2026-01-23T03:34:49Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > It must seem quaint to someone who didn’t live through the 50s. Personally, I don’t see anything hilarious in it. I lived through that time and I don’t see anything hilarious in it, either. Consider Tom Leher’s hilarious little ditty, _[National Brotherhood Week](https://genius.com/Tom-lehrer-national-brotherhood-week-lyrics)_[.](https://genius.com/Tom-lehrer-national-brotherhood-week-lyrics) Except read the lyrics without hearing an audience laugh. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2026, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-at-least-they-were-trying-old-comics-public-service-page/1026915/15 "2026-01-23T03:39:35Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > > [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > > > Some people might not know that “Long hair music” in 1959 referred to Classical Music. > > Exactly so. It wasn’t until the '60s that “unacceptably long” hair started to be associated with rock musicians. And it’s a reference to musicians of an earlier era - specifically, 19th-century romantics like Liszt, with their trademark flowing tresses. Very few male classical musicians in the 1950s had long hair, aside from Glenn Gould. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2026, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-at-least-they-were-trying-old-comics-public-service-page/1026915/16 "2026-01-23T03:39:49Z")
That was a few years later, when there were actual efforts (often ineffectual and not universally respected) to achieve some kind of racial equality, often by people who were pretty clueless about how a lot of people really felt. It was that tension between aspirations and accomplishments that made the song funny. I don’t find it funny any more, the world has changed too much, and I’ve lost a lot of illusions. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2026, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-at-least-they-were-trying-old-comics-public-service-page/1026915/17 "2026-01-23T04:20:58Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > I dislike alligators and spiders. Does that lower my BQ? Nope. The issue is that Yes answers should go in B, C & D. It even says “all of us have some thing we dont like…but when they are people- you hurt them and cheat yourself”. > [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > It must seem quaint to someone who didn’t live through the 50s. Personally, I don’t see anything hilarious in it. I concur. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2026, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-at-least-they-were-trying-old-comics-public-service-page/1026915/18 "2026-01-23T13:26:43Z")
From a cynical enough POV you could marvel at the wide-eyed innocence of this effort to raise consciousness in e.g. 8yo boys. And then laugh at the sponsors for their childlike innocence and earnest true-believerness. I could sure see a modern MAGA reading this and laughing with both utter contempt and genuine mirth at how dumb this is and how utterly useless it’s been. If they were analytical enough (and most aren’t) they’d be thinking “It’s been 65 years. The reality of indelible racial differences, and the legitimacy of racism arising from that, is a central feature of humanity just as it has ever been and shall always be. Wokies can wish otherwise, but reality knows different. Ha ha ha, you stupid do-gooders with your stupid comics.” ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2026, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-at-least-they-were-trying-old-comics-public-service-page/1026915/19 "2026-01-23T14:21:52Z")
This led me to learn about Anna Rosenberg. Wow. > **[Anna Rosenberg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Rosenberg)** > > Anna Marie Rosenberg (née Lederer; July 19, 1899 – May 9, 1983), later Anna Rosenberg Hoffman, was an American public official, advisor to four presidents, and businesswoman. During the early 1950s, she served as an Assistant Secretary of Defense, becoming the then-highest ranking woman in the history of the Department of Defense. Among the landmark initiatives she was involved in during her public service career were the GI Bill and the desegregation of the U.S. military. Upon her death, The An... ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2026, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-at-least-they-were-trying-old-comics-public-service-page/1026915/20 "2026-01-23T14:39:46Z")
It’s actually surprisingly progressive for its time, even if it’s absurdly out of step with modern sensibilities. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-at-least-they-were-trying-old-comics-public-service-page/1026915.md?page=2)