Happy [belated] 65th birthday, Smokey Bear

The Examiner ^ | August 9 2009 | Thomas McAdam

[Daffynition]

Today the nation celebrates the 65th birthday of one of our most beloved protectors: Smokey Bear, the guardian of our forests. Dressed in a ranger's hat, belted blue jeans, and carrying a shovel, he has been America’s forest fire prevention symbol, since his debut in 1944. Today, he is one of the most famous advertising symbols in the world and is protected by Federal Law. He has his own private zip code, his own legal council, and his own private committee to insure that his name is used properly. Smokey Bear is much more than a make-believe paper image; he exists as an actual symbol of forest fire prevention.

Kentucky’s Governor Steve Beshear, along with the Kentucky Division of Forestry (KDF) and Daniel Boone National Forest (DBNF), are recognizing Smokey today. The governor officially proclaimed Sunday, August 9, 2009 as Smokey Bear Day in Kentucky in an effort to celebrate Smokey Bear’s 65th birthday and provide critical information about wildfire prevention.

[snip]

[Daffynition]

[kanawa]

Smokey gets around, here he is in northern Manitoba...

[ETL]

Happy Birthday, Smokey!
-your longtime pal, Yogi

[ETL]

http://www.smokeybear.com/
_______________________________________

"Smokey's Journey" (1940s, 50s, 60s, 70s...2000s)
http://www.smokeybear.com/vault/default.asp?js=1

[Daffynition]

That's coz he has frequent flier miles. ;p

[Daffynition]

[PowderMonkey]

Happy Birthday, Smokey! I remember as a boy seeing Smokey during his brief stint at the National Zoo in Washington, DC. It was not a happy time for the old bruin. He and others were displayed in the typical Victorian style of large rectangular cages on elevated concrete platforms, and it saddened me to see him so confined. Mercifully, reforms were instituted so that animal exhibits now reflect a more natural and humane habitat.

[Daffynition]

Cool links ETL .... I like the old/early posters.

[Venturer]

Yes I was at the National Zoo just the other day Smokey and about 75% of the Zoo animals are no longer there. They have no Polar Bears and practically no bears at all other than the Panda’s. Yes, they are no longer caged and the Zoo is mo longer a zoo,it is merely a park with damned few animals.

The great collection of animals you went to see has been destroyed by people who feel that animals have no business in cages and a great larning experince for children of all ages has been decimated.

I know I wont be wasting my time on another visit to the National Zoo.

[ETL]

Here's one of Smokey during the 1950s negotiating his contract:

[ETL]

http://www.smokeybear.com/vault/trails.asp?id=1950

[Daffynition]

Those are excellent ETL .... Thanks!

Man wrestling a trained bear
Unknown location, ca. 1902
Photographer: R.H. Trueman

[Dusty Road]

“That’s coz he has frequent flier miles.”

Not any more, Smokey died in 1976 and is buried in Capitan NM.

[Dusty Road]

They need to get they’re facts straight, Smokey was a young cub when found in 1950 after a huge fire in Capitan NM.

[PowderMonkey]

"The great collection of animals you went to see has been destroyed by people who feel that animals have no business in cages and a great larning experince for children of all ages has been decimated."

Perhaps you are too young to have experienced Zoological parks established in the Victorian tradition of "animal collections." If truth be told, the collections were decimated by neglect, and funding shortfalls from declining attendance. The "collections" were in a word depressing. In the extreme. The exhibits afforded visitors so inclined to taunt, jab, and generally abuse the animals. It also endangered visitors. In one famous instance during the early 1960s, a none-too-bright local grandfather hoisted his five year old grandson up for a closer look at the National Zoo's then resident Atlas Lion, only to have the animal reach through the bars and tear the boy's head from his body. The Seals were especially vulnerable to abuse, as they died by the score from stomachs filled with pennies, nickles and dimes thrown at them by abusive Zoo visitors. So yes Zoos now may indeed be merely parks with damned few animals. Perhaps that is for the best.

[bondjamesbond]

I hate to sound like a pill, but Smokey the Bear was the thin edge of the wedge. It was the beginning of the infantilization of the American people and the first example of government through slick marketing.

Of course, we have now reached the point where government is nothing but slick marketing. But it all started with Smokey the Bear.

[whd23]

[Daffynition]

CAPITAN, NEW MEXICO - "THE BIRTHPLACE OF SMOKEY BEAR"

[Dusty Road]

Thanks for posting that, I’ve been to the museum, also went to the Billy the Kid museum. We’ve had a place in Ruidoso for 22 years now.

[Daffynition]

Yep.

Also interesting:

“By the way, the U.S. Forest Service makes a specific point of denying that the name was ever “Smokey the Bear”; however, in the 1950s, that variant of the name became very widespread both in the popular imagination and in print. The campaign to remind the public of the correct version of the name is almost as old as the Smokey Bear campaign itself. Smokey’s debut poster was released on August 9, 1944, which is considered his birthday. His name was inspired by “Smoky” Joe Martin, a New York City Fire Department hero who shrugged off burns and blindness in a bold 1922 rescue.”