Walt Kelly has long been one of my heroes. It was his genius that created Pogo the Possum, arguably one of the wisest, most sage creatures to ever pole a pirogue through the Okefenokee swamp.
It was Pogo and his pals who lovingly left comic page readers questioning their own sanity each week with such indisputable statements as, “We has met the enemy, and it is us.”
Politics was always fair game and election years found Kelly gently mocking candidates with such statements as, “We had the New Deal and the Fair Deal. Now we offers twice as much as the other fellow offers you … we is going to give you The Double Deal.”
As an aside to this bombast, Pogo muttered, “Now is the time for men to come to.” To which his pal Albert Alligator, who had been fishing all day and had caught nothing added, “Food for thought is no substitute for the real thing.”
Commenting on yet another political situation that had the media in a tizzy, Pogo advised, “Don’t believe something just because you didn’t read it in the papers. Wait until you haven’t seen it on television.”
Deep in a philosophical discussion about life, Pogo proclaimed, “Don’t take life so serious – it ain’t nohow permanent.” To which another member of the cast replied, “There’s no easy quick way out, we’re going to have to live through our whole lives, win, lose or draw.”
One of the characters was a puppy everyone called Pup Dog. Miz Beaver stopped everyone in their tracks one day, however, by saying his name was really Ralph Birch. When asked why, she took a puff on her corncob pipe and said, “cause thems the only barks he knows by heart.” And there was Pup Dog in the background barking, “Ralph, Ralph, Ralph. Birch, Birch.”
Sometimes the mood was plain old garden variety silliness. Like the hollering contest they launched periodically. Everybody put forth their best holler and Albert was feeling pretty good about his entry. Then Li’l Rackety Coon Chile let loose with a holler that put the whole swamp into shock.
It is notable that a real life hollering contest emerged in 1969 at the crossroads of Spivey’s Corner, N.C. The contest is held on the third Sunday in June, and proceeds go to the Spivey’s Corner Volunteer Fire Dept.
It’s not known if the contest was prompted by the Okefenokee event. A lot of people thought so at the time.
Kelly died in 1973 at the age of 60 after a long battle with diabetes. After one of his legs had to be amputated, he commented, “I’ll just have to wait till it grows back.””
