Monday, September 19, 2016

Manic Monday Bonus--Sheena The Mascot!!

What did every high school kid in the 1940s want?

Wait...what the what now?

Cambot, let's blow that letter up:

OK, let's get past some date confusion...the letter is dated January 1945 but refers to the graduating class of 1947. Well, they surely could be picking class mascots ahead of time, right? Or, it could just be a typo. Then again, their graduation is in February?!?! Talk about your long summer vacations!

More importantly--a senior class is going to pick Sheena as their mascot?? I mean, she is Queen Of The Jungle and all that, and although I don't think that the term "blackboard jungle" had been coined yet, it was Philadelphia, man...

For the record, John Bartram High School is a real high school, and yes, that's the real address. The school's mascot is The Braves, but it's not uncommon for classes to pick their own "mascots." Still, Sheena? There are about a dozen or so Golden Age heroes I personally would want as a class mascot ahead of Sheena (no disrespect, your highness).

Of more interest is that fact that Fiction House apparently signed off on this--or why else run the letter, right? One can imagine the graduating class of 2018 from Slay Monstrobot High wanting to make Batman their mascot, use Batman pictures and buttons, and even asking DC to provide the drawing. How long do you think it would take for the "cease and desist" letters to start flying? Maybe that's why they chose Sheena--smaller character from a smaller company, so more likely to be approved...?

From Movie Comics #1 (1946)

3 comments:

Sina said...

Are you kidding me? "Why would they want Sheena?"...*LOOK* at her! 😋 *I'd* put her on the nose of my air-bomber 😇

Brian said...

OK, let's get past some date confusion...the letter is dated January 1945 but refers to the graduating class of 1947. Well, they surely could be picking class mascots ahead of time, right? Or, it could just be a typo. Then again, their graduation is in February?!?! Talk about your long summer vacations!

Presumably, it was a sophomore class (who would graduate as seniors in 1947) choosing a 10th-grade annual mascot?

Sort Of The Atom said...

And don't forget Bartram High's hated crosstown rival, the East Schuylkill Big Ethels!