• Format
  • Publications (documents)
• Type
  • Text
• Source institution
  • Western Carolina University
• Identifier
  • HL_WesternCarolinian_1953-11-14_Vol19_No04_01

The Western ROLINIAN VOL. XIX—NO. 4 WESTERN CAROLINA COLLEGE, CULLOWHEE, N. C SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1953 SADIE HAWKINS DAY AT WCC The Sadie Hawkins Story Something new has been added to November. It's another holiday sandwiched between Armistice Day and Thanksgiving . . . and known to the comic strip readers of 750 daily and Sunday newspapers as Sadie Hawkins Day. It all began 16 years ago in Al Capp's mythical town of Dogpatch when Mayor Hekzebiah Hawkins, in a desperate effort to marry off his uncommonly ugly daughter Sadie, hit upon a scheme that finally ended Sadie's 35 years of single cussedness. His Honor decreed a footrace to be held between all unwed males and females and ordained that any miserable man caught by a gal must marry her. Flourishing a blunderbuss, he gave the fear-crazed bachelors a' head start, then fired a second volley for the "howlin' MA.MMY mess of unwed gals to go ascreech- in' and aclawin' after 'em." Sadie took off in a cloud of dust that temporarily obscured her uncomely face and permanently netted her a mate. From that day, a Dogpatcher's life was a dog's life on Sadie Hawkins day . . . and that was especially true for Capp's hero, an ersatz hillbilly named Li'l Abner, whose brawny good looks made him the unhappy fugitive from a Jane gang. Thus did Al Capp, a Connecticut Yankee who never lived anywhere further south than Brooklyn, create a hillbilly holiday that set a pattern not only for the boys in the backwoods but also for all of these here United States. What started out 16 years ago as a gag—hokum for the Yokums—has become, according to no less an observer than the Birmingham (Ala.) Post, "A November fixture so firmly entrenched in the American way of life that it would take an act of BIG BARNSMELL Congress to wipe it off the books." This last-ditch solution for the spinsters of Dogpatch fired the LONESOME POLECAT imagination of coeds at the University of Tennessee, who staged the first Sadie Hawkins race on campus. Soon thousands of high school, college, club, old age home and church groups got the "ro- mantical notion" and took to sprinting with a purpose on the great day. Happily, however, the dire proscription that holds for the denizens of Dogpatch—that is, "mar- ryin' up wif the gal what ketches a marriageable male" has been watered down to conform with the standards of "reel life" and college deans. The penalty for capture in our times is, at best, merely a consent to escort a gal to a party or dance for which she foots the bill; at worst, participating in a mock marriage with Marryin' Sam pronouncin' the fatal words. +&r EARTHQUAKE McGOON SADIE HAWKINS STORY For over 10 years, Li'l Ab, who confined his passions to a dressmakers dummy and a cockroach, managed to elude the glamorous beiies—particularly Daisy Mae, the gal he "despised the least." However, his luck iinally ran out and today he is happily married to Daisy Mae, and they have a youngster, Honest Abe Yokum. SADIE HAWKINS If you are planning a Sadie Hawkins Day observance, you will be interested in the following suggestions. ADVA.NCE PREPARATIONS Some schools, for example the University of Toronto, permit an at-home-interview-week" during which time the girls may invite the boys to visit and undergo an inquisition. Another way for girls to select their future prey is to group the boys in an enclosure while a girl auctioneer stands on a box and auctions each man off to the highest bidder. Throughout Sadie Hawkins week, girls are expected to pay boys' incidental expenses such as sodas and smokes. Girls are required to carry boys' books, and the school co-op store agrees to accept money for refreshments only from the ladies. During the week, any girl may call any man on the phone and say, "This is Sadie Hawkins speak- HEKZEBIAH HAWKINS ing." These magic words suffice for an introduction—no other is required. No boy is permitted to ask a girl for a date. Punitive treatment is suggested for a violation. The boys chew on turnips all week to store up energy for running; then they sleep the sleep of the doomed the night before the race, and desperately don overalls the next morning for the inevitable event. Sadie Hawkins celebrations usually begin with a warning to bachelors, known as a proclamation, and read in assembly: "Proclamation: Know yo' all, wherefore and whereas, Ah proclaims: yo' gotta run—ketch or be ketched. Whereas, if yo' lays yo' poor achin' unmarried haid under a roof in Dogpatch; and whereas, if yo' is man or gal, hooman or otherwise; and whereas, if yo* ADORABLE JONES Bachelors caught by the girls are dragged back to a stipulated finish line, where they may be punished in one of two ways: first, they may be given a summons to the Sadie Hawkins Dance that night, or second, they may be mock-married then and there by Marryin' Sam. Sometimes when a girl captures a boy, the unhappy prisoner must give her a dollar which she is expected to spend on him at the dance that evening. In some schools, any man caught by a gal has to defray the expenses of the evening. The race may be held in the gymnasium or football field, or it may be a blitz race on roller skates in a local rink. In case of bad weather or lack of space, it may be run as follows: by means of uprights; by lines on the floor; by a maze set up with many dead ends and a couple of exits—boys are let loose in this maize and the girls must catch them before they reach one of the camouflaged exits. DANCES AND MUSIC The culminating event of Sadie Hawkins Week is usually the big Saturday night dance. Walls are often decorated with paper simulating log cabins, cardboard privies, trees, greens, and cartoons of are placed on the dance floor. Couples dance to the tune of "Turkey in the Straw." When the music- stops the couple nearest to one of the stumps is eliminated. The last couple re,.mining on the floor receives a prize. "Apple-bobbing — D o g p atch Style"—a lot ol apples are placed in a large tub. Boys are each given a number, said numbers are distributed among an even nunii girls. The boys have five minutes in which to retrieve an apple. Those who successfully do so get out of dancing with the girls that have their numbers. "Fetchin' Mammy's Po'k Chops" —Boys and girls sit alternately in a circle. A bundle has been wrapped to resemble a bundle of pork chops. This is given to one of the boys in the circle. A small frying pan is given to one of the girls on the opposite side of the circle. At a given signal (music or other- MARRYIN' SAM wise) the boys pass the bundle in one direction to one another and the girls pass the frying pan in the opposite direction to one another. When the signal is given, the passing ceases and the boy who has the pork chops places the bundle in the frying pan heir1 by the girl and must kiss her. "The Feudin' Frolic"—Spots are placed on the floor (either painted or stuck on). In the course of the dance, the orchestra announces the next number as being a "Feudin' Frolic." During this number, when the music stops all couples must stop as well, and those males who are standin' on spots may be taken as partners of girls on the sidelines. "The Marryin' Sam Jam"—be- GLOBAL McBLIMP Don't Marry That Gal," might make a sprightly contribution to the evening. GAMES AND CONTESTS Credit an Eastern college with an ingenious game that came about spontaneously last year—each man threw one shoe into the ring; the girls rushed in, grabbing for a shoe, which they promptly proceeded to fit in Cinderella fashion until they fdund and annexed the rightful owner. The capture of a greased pig, like Li'l Abner's Salomey, is another Sadie Hawkins Day game as are also "Dogpatch Post Office' (played the same as regular Posi Office but with the roles of male and female reversed), and "Ring- Around-Skunk-Holler." In the latter, 10 boys form a circle and 20 girls form another circle around this one. Each circle runs in the opposite direction to the other. They continue until a given signal stops them. The girl picks the boy opposite her for a partner, either AVAILABLE JONES ain't yet hitched to man, woman, animule, or post; then yo' is ele- gibooble. Yo' just gotta run—yo' gotta ketch or be ketched. "Ah proclaims: If yo' is the fastest or the lastest, run fo' or run after, yo' gotta run—yo' pore miz- zuble onhappy fools, yore mizzuble unmarried days is over. Ah proclaims these rules for Sadie Hawkins Day. Signed and sealed (with a Gulp!)—Hekzebiah Hawkins." THE CHASE COMES FIRST The chase begins by suspending the customary game laws regarding the catching of boys. A shot starts the frightened bachelors running for the hills; a few minutes later a second shot starts the girls off in a mad boy- girl scramble. To make capture easier, bricks can be tied to the boys' ankles to cut down their speed. Cornering in a tree is considered tantamount to capture. DAISY MAE JOE BTFSPLK SHMOO Li'l Abner characters. Apples, turnips, and corn shocks are suspended from the ceiling. Outside the danoe hall, some set up a check room with a sign reading, "Park artillery here." Couples arrive by horse and buggy or on foot, but always in hillbilly costume. Admission to the dance is usually a marriage license procured from Marryin' Sam thaM afternoon after the suckers (male) are caught by the quail (female). Girls provide their own corsages, which usually consist of onions, carrots, turnips, and parsely; and escort their captives to and from the big dance. Boys wear round-bowl haircuts or .long beards, and the height of propriety is reached when a girl 4. For the best recipe for pre- sarved turnips. 5. For the best drawing of a Li'l Abner character. FOOD AND DRINKS At most dances, a dinner better known as a "nosebag supper" is served before or during the horseplay. Po'k chops, co'n pone, pre- sarved turnips, Genu-wine Barbecued Salomey, catfish head stew, possum tail soup, chitlin's, sliced bananas with ketchup and mayonnaise (all Li'l Abner's favorites) may be served. The chances are there'll be plenty of bellyaches if you stick too faithfully to the Yokums' diet. To keep everybody healthy, we suggest you make the following substitutions: For Salome Special or Hammus Alabammus—ham. F„r preserved turnips—frosted cupsakes with gumdrop leaves. For Skunk Hollow Sandwish— club sandwich. For Yokum Special—pork chops. TYRONE SHOWERS sends flowers in advance to her male escort; At the dance, Marryin' Sam performs a mock shotgun wedding for the boy and girl who take first prize as the most reasonable facsimiles of Daisy Mae and Li'l Abner. He either performs the two- bit, or orthodox wedding, the four- bit, with which Marryin' Sam gives special grunts and groans, shoots off his gun and rides his mules six times around the bride, or the big six-bit wedding, with a feud thrown in plus a feast of fried snails and barbecued tongue. Hillbilly dances follow these patterns: "The Hairless Joe Stump" —five logs simulating tree stumps BLACK RUFE fore the party, girls only have been told of certain spots or areas on the floor where their partners are made vulnerable to the following procedure. If a girl succeeds in dancing her partner into such an area or into such a spot, she can stop him there and holler "Marryin's Sam," in which case Marryin' Sam will hold a mock wedding and the girl is entitled to that particular partner for the rest of the evening without interference from the other girls. The fact that only the girls know these places will make the males wary. "The Dogpatch Parade"—Toward the end of the party, after prizes for costumes and contests have been awarded, the best Li'l Abner and the best Daisy Mae lead a Dogpatch Parade in the APRIL MUDHEN permanently or for a single dance The following are contest ideas: 1. For the best costumes of anj character—or a cheesecake contest to discover "the most luscious blonde in tarnation." 2. For the best rendition of . tall story in Dogpath dialogue. 3. For original interpretation of named dances, said titles to be given out in advance so that couples may practice them: The Dogpatch Dip, The Turnip Tussle, The Salomey Swagger, the Hairless Joe Stump, The Sadie Hawkins Hus- DETESTABLE JONES For Slobbovian Delight—barbecued meat or hamburgers with barbecue sauce. ■ For teetotalers, buttermilk does nicely, but the traditional Sadie Hawkins Day drink is Kickapoo Joy Juice. Li'l Abner suggests the usual "ingreejunts"—" a barr'l o' kerosene, two dozen chicken haids, a bucket o' somethin' sloppy we swiped off a passin' truck, a mo- torman's glove, three pair o' old socks, a dash o' axlegrease, turpentine," etc. Concoct any brew you want, make it as zany as possible, asking each couple to contribute something (an old-look skirt, a rubber HAIRLESS JOE same manner as the old-fashioned grand march. There is no special Sadie Hawkins Day song, but any hillbilly numbers like "You Are My Sunshine," "Feudin, Fussin' and A- fightin'," and "She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain" are appropriate. Al Capp's song, "Li'l Abner, SENATOR ROSEMARY GOONEY tie, The Li'l Abner Ramble, The Mammy Mooch, The Pappy Shuffle, the Daisy Mae Dart, The Skunk Hollow Slide. WITCH HAZEL tire, a pair of false teeth, etc.). A prize should be awarded to the couple that best tells in a couplet why they consider their contribution vital to the making of Kickapoo Joy Juice. For the actual drink, however, stick to a good old-fashioned punch recipe—you'll stay healthier that-a-way. TABLEAUX AND FLOATS: These precede or run simultaneously with the dance. They usually conist of take-offs on the Fearless Fosdick principals, or of floats driven down the main streets of town to publicize Sadie Hawkins Day. A Midwest college last year convulsed the town with an ambulance that followed a struggling character who went mad after seeing Lena the Hyena. LI'L ABNER

The Western Carolinian is Western Carolina University’s student-run newspaper. The paper was published as the Cullowhee Yodel from 1924 to 1931 before changing its name to The Western Carolinian in 1933.

• Creator
  • Western Carolina College
• Format
  • Publications (documents)
• Type
  • Text
• Date
  • Date original: 1953-11-14;
  • Date digitized: 2017-09-06
• Extent
  • Dimension: 21.5" x 16"
  • Pages: 4 pages
• Subject - Topic
  • College student newspapers and periodicals
  • Cullowhee (N.C.) -- Newspapers
  • Universities and colleges -- North Carolina -- Cullowhee -- Newspapers
• Location
  • Jackson County (N.C.)
  • Cullowhee (N.C.)
• Source institution
  • Western Carolina University
• Source Collection
  • WCU Students Newspapers Collection
• Identifier
  • HL_WesternCarolinian_1953-11-14_Vol19_No04
• Repository
  • Western Carolina University Hunter Library