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Short Stuff: Uncle Sam Wants YOU! · Stuff You Should Know

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Hey, welcome to the short Stuff, Josh, Chuck, Jerry Dave.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Let's go.
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: I could not, for the life of me find out
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: where we have talked about Uncle Sam before, and it
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: had to be one of our videos. But I couldn't
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: find it. I checked a million times over and it
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: was not a short stuff. I couldn't find it anywhere.
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: But I know for sure. The only reason I know
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: this is because we've talked about it.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: It had to be our Fourth of July special that
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: we did with the Onion and The Daily Show.
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: That keeps coming back to hanas. Huh. Yeah, because we
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: had another one the other day that was I think
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: in there. Yeah, I bet you it was.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it had to be right.
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but who cares. Let's tell the real story Josh
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: and Chuck style.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we're going to talk about Uncle Sam. If you
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: don't know who Uncle Sam is, then by god, you're
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: not much of an American.
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, how would you describe Uncle Sam? A cartoon,
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: a drawing of a man become synonymous and a symbol
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: of the United States of America A logo almost.
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah, if you've ever seen somebody wearing a red, white
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: and blue stove top hat, or a top hat with
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: stars on it, that's an Uncle Sam hat.
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: You ever see somebody wearing an American flag suit, they're
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: basically doing their best Uncle Sam. You ever see anybody
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: with a beard, they're pretending their Uncle Sam.
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah. If you've ever seen a picture of all those
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: things put together and a guy pointing at you on
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  Speaker 2: a poster saying I want you to do whatever, join
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: the army or give money for war bonds, that's Uncle Sam.
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah. So our conception of Uncle Sam, the one you
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: just described, is thanks to a great illustrator who was
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: working around the time America entered the First World War.
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: Same one of the great names of all time, James
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: Montgomery Flag with Jeez love that guy's name. But he
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: was an amazing illustrator and painter, and he painted that
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: iconic image of Uncle Sam looking out from the poster,
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: pointing at you the viewer, that I want you. I
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: remember the Simpsons where it was like the immigration episode,
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: Homer put up a poster. He asked that Pooh if
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: he could put up a poster in his convenience store,
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: and it was Uncle Sam saying I want you out.
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: Do you remember that on h No, that's funny though.
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: And Pooh took the took the occasion to talk about
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: how much he loved America, and Homer goes, wow, you
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: know what a poo I'm really gonna miss you.
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: Uh, that's that's great. You should say it as a
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: poo though.
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: Right, Nold.
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  Speaker 2: Not the funny thing about this poster that came around
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  Speaker 2: in nineteen seventeen, and we'll get this is not the
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: first incarnation of Uncle Sam, but it's the most amous
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: that we know now. But James Montgomery flag supposedly was
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: inspired by a British Minister of War, Lord Kitchener, but
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: he used his own handsome face as the actual model.
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  Speaker 2: And if you look up a picture of James Montgomery flag,
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: you're in you know, he put wrinkles, he was younger
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  Speaker 2: in a gray beard. But if you picture that guy
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: with that gray beard and hair, it's Uncle.
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: Sam, yeah for sure. And Neat Yeah, it was like
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: there was a Lord Kitchener poster was essentially the exact
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: same thing of drawing of Lord Kitchener looking out from
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  Speaker 1: the poster pointing at you, saying he wants you to
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: sign up to help. And both of these posters were
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: propaganda posters. From World War One, that the one that
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: flag designed of Uncle Sam had been printed four million times,
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: four million copies of a poster that fair of Fawcet
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: poster hadn't even been printed four million times. That's how
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: that's how successful this poster was, right, And this was
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: all just before the war was over, So in about
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: years it was printed four million times. The thing is,
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  Speaker 1: I'm sure there's people out there that like, well, yeah,
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: it's the origin of Uncle Sam, and friend, you'd be wrong.
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: Uncle Sam had been around for at least about one
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  Speaker 1: hundred years by the time James Montgomery Flagg made his
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  Speaker 1: iconic poster, and I say, we take a break, we
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: come back and we talk about that very issue. If
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: you want to know, then you're in luck. Just listen
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: to Suffus stuffus.
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: No, all right, So the origins of Uncle Sam. There
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  Speaker 2: was a story that many people believe for a long
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  Speaker 2: time that it came about during the War of eighteen twelve,
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  Speaker 2: and that it was named such. The characters name such
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: because of Uncle Sam Wilson, who was a meatpacker from
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  Speaker 2: New York who supplied beef, these big barrels of beef
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  Speaker 2: to the army for the War of eighteen twelve, they
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  Speaker 2: had us stamped on them, and they called those barrels
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  Speaker 2: of beef Uncle Sam's. That was published and republished many,
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  Speaker 2: many times, starting in the New York Gazette in nineteen thirty,
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  Speaker 2: leading to a congressional resolution in nineteen sixty one recognizing
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: Sam Wilson. But that is not the origins of Uncle Sam, right.
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  Speaker 1: No, I mean a lot of people think Sam Wilson
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: was the guy who started it all. I mean that
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: story everything comes together so close, like he really was
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  Speaker 1: a real person, he really was working in the War
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: of eighteen twelve. The barrels of meat really were stamped us.
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: But some really dedicated historians won by the name of
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: Don Hickey from Wayne State College, another one named Christopher Philippo.
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: They both got to the bottom of this and found
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: that very very shortly before the Uncle Sam Wilson's story
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  Speaker 1: could have happened, people were already using Uncle Sam as
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  Speaker 1: a way of depicting or talking about the United States
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  Speaker 1: of America.
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  Speaker 2: As a whole exactly. They found some actual proof proof
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  Speaker 2: and from an eighteen ten diary from a sixteen year
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: old sailor on the USS Wasp where he read he
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: was seasick and not feeling so good, and he wrote,
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  Speaker 2: I swear that Uncle Sam as they call him, would
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: certainly forever have lost the services of at least one sailor.
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  Speaker 2: And that was in eighteen ten, So it was if
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: he was using it in a diary entry in eighteen ten,
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  Speaker 2: that means it was what I would consider probably fairly
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  Speaker 2: common usage at that point. Right.
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: That guy almost certainly didn't make that up in that
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: diary entry. Yeah, So Yeah. The thing is is, even
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: though Sam Wilson wasn't the actual direct inspiration for Uncle Sam,
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: he certainly helped kind of popularize it. I think he
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: probably his association with it in the story that came
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: from that probably took it from what may have just
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: been relegated to navy lingo that would have become archaic
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  Speaker 1: to now it has a story and it's spread from there.
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  Speaker 1: So even though he didn't inspire it, it's still like, yeah,
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  Speaker 1: Uncle Sam Wilson definitely had a huge role in the
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: creation of the idea of Uncle Sam.
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely. In fact, there was a minister I believe
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: it Sam the real Sam Wilson's funeral that there was.
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  Speaker 2: He wrote a letter that said that he had often
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: talked with Wilson quote about the circumstances which led to
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  Speaker 2: the singular transfer of his popular name to the United States.
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: So it sounds like what that's saying is that Sam
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: Wilson even knew that, yes.
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: For sure, and went along with it, right. He's like, yeah, yeah,
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  Speaker 1: it was, and he'd look furtively around. So there was
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: another character that I hadn't heard of, a guy named
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: Brother Jonathan.
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: Did you heard of him? I had not. I didn't think.
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  Speaker 2: But then I also think that we may have brought
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: this up because those pictures looked very familiar.
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: Okay, they did not to me. But there was a
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: character named Brother Jonathan who was who predated Uncle Sam
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: by a couple of decades. Brother Jonathan was the original
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: personification of America around the time of the Revolution. He
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: dressed like a revolutionary cat, with a tri cornered hat
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: and those tails and the coat with tails and everything.
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  Speaker 1: But he was much more rambunctious, much younger. I saw
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  Speaker 1: editorial cartoon of him forcibly pouring a bunch of French
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  Speaker 1: brandy down the throat of John Bull, the character who
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: personified Great Britain and still does, And he was around
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  Speaker 1: for decades, and eventually he kind of handed the baton
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: off to Uncle Sam, which is really interesting because it
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: happened as a time when America was starting to mature.
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  Speaker 1: The character personifying America went from a younger, rambunctious, brandy
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  Speaker 1: forcing character to a much more like older stern, kind
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  Speaker 1: of down to earth pointer guy.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think brother Jonathan went away by the eighteen
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: six like there was some overlap there, went away in
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  Speaker 2: the eighteen sixties, and then Thomas Nass And that's a
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  Speaker 2: pretty big name in cartooning back then, right.
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  Speaker 1: For sure, he kind of gave us the conception of
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  Speaker 1: Santa Claus, the pre Coca Cola Sam.
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: That's right, that's right, I knew, I knew that name
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: from somewhere. But Nas is the one who sort of
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: came up with the more modern image. And then Flag
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  Speaker 2: of course made the iconic one that we still use
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: that same exact sort of character.
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  Speaker 1: Right, And so let's see what else, Chuck, Well.
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: I mean, one of the ways, you know, if you've
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: still never seen much Uncle Sam besides recruitment posters and
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: stuff like that, or the old propaganda posters that Flag
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: was tasked with drawing, is in political cartoons you'll still
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: see to this day, like a political cartoon that will
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: use Uncle Sam in a variety of ways, whether it's
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: a beleaguered Uncle Sam in a food line or a
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: or a war mongering Uncle Sam. Like, you know, anyway
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  Speaker 2: they can. It's not just like kind of one use.
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: Whenever he's in a political cartoon, they can. He can
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: adapt and change to suit whatever message you're trying to deliver.
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah, whatever comment you're making on America, you just make
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: Uncle Sam do it.
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: There's also a nineteen ninety six slasher film called Uncle Sam,
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: and I was about it, and it's that The horror
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: fan blog was like, it's not a must sy, but
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: you could see it right essentially is what they were doing.
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: Some movie exist, But Robert Forrester's in it. He plays
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: like a corrupt congressman who dies. Isn't that interesting?
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: Year?
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: Was it ninety six?
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: Okay, so that was pre Jackie Brown.
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you're around that time.
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: I would think it wouldn't be post Jackie Brown.
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: No, did he blow up after Jackie Brown?
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: Not blue up, but was definitely relevant enough to probably
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: not be in the Uncle Sam slasher movie.
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: He landed a role on Breaking Bad season five.
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: At least, right, Oh was he in that?
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah, he was the guy. Sorry for spoilers everybody, if
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: you haven't seen Breaking Bad yet, but he was the
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: guy who brought Oh I can't remember the main character's name,
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: but Malcolm in the Middle's dad supplies when he was
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: Walter White, Yes, when he was hiding out in New Hampshire,
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: Vermont or whatever. He was the guy. He was just
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: basically waiting for him to die so he could take
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: his money.
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: Here's your things that I'm gonna deliver to your house,
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: and now if you could just give me your money.
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: That's my best impression of him.
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: That was great. I thought it was Robert Forster speaking
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: just now.
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: And by the way, Jackie Brown was in ninety seven,
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: so kind of right around that time. Yeah, for my money,
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: the most underrated Tarantino film.
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah, maybe Tarantino saw him in Slasher and was like,
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: that's my guy.
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: You never know.
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: That was a good movie. I don't know if his
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: most underrated, Yeah, maybe maybe I could see that. Sure,
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: it was a good one.
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: He's got a lot of overrated movies.
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah, he's got a few under his belt for sure.
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: But he's also got some of the greatest of all time.
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: Agreed, He's all over the map.
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I'm really sad to hear that he's planning
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: on making his last movie, although apparently he scuttled the
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: project that was his last movie because people had like
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: spies had infiltrated it, and he got pretty far into it,
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: was like, no, I'm making something else for my last movie.
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: Then, huh you know that goes Soderberg was supposed to
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: retire to then he did like forty more things.
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: Okay, all right, well that's good, that's hopeful. So obviously
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: we started talking about Quentin Tarantino and the Uncle Sam
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: Short Stuff, which means short Stuff is out.
• 13:19
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