When I was very young, I found a copy of this tract in my parents' basement. I loved reading comic books and cartoons of all kinds, so of course I read this, too. As a child I wondered how it applied to me - it seemed unusual to me that a book of cartoons was written for parents, not kids.

For some reason it popped into my head this morning - I think Daddy Clay's blog about content filters for online media may have triggered the memory - and lo and behold, I've found a copy online.

I love the classic comic draftsmanship in this tract, as well as the dry sense of humor. Though this was published 51 years ago, the message is still very relevant to the topic of kids and media! It's about a 5-10 minute read, if you're interested.

Pogo Primer for Parents (TV Edition)

That is interesting! It shows that people were indeed aware that the tv should not be a babysitter, AND that monitoring what and how much tv your kids are watching is a good idea... 50 years ago! When I read parenting blogs/mags, It often seems like people are just now discovering this.

Thanks for sharing.

But boy, would the Mommy Bloggers have a fit at the housewife stereotyping in that thing! (Even though, THEN, it was likely fairly accurate.)

You called it, Nik - the gender stereotyping is really outrageous. But, this tract should be considered a product of its era.

The timelessness of the message really strikes me. At the time, they were writing about TV. But the wisdom contained in the comic could easily be applied today, to videogames, smartphones, internet, and so on.

(It's also neat to have your memory jogged about something you last saw 30+ years ago, then find it online with a quick google search. )

That's just swell! Walt Kelly is one of the secret masters of comic art. If you know him, you respect the hell out of him. If you live in the US, you probably don't know him.

If you dig his writing and illustration, you might also look up Carl Barks (creator of Uncle Scrooge and the whole comic book Duck universe) and Jeff Smith (the author of Bone). And if you dig either of the latter, there's always Tintin...

You called it, Nik - the gender stereotyping is really outrageous.
Maybe not all that outrageous, considering that Pogo is in fact male. There's something subversive here, as usual for the author.

Gender confusion aside, the actual content is also pretty firmly tongue-in-cheek. Kelly was a political writer. His comic strip was renowned for its barely-cloaked satire of contemporary politicians and social issues. Rather sophisticated stuff.

Knowing how socially liberal Kelly was, it's kind of hard to read his commentary about telephones and headaches with a straight face. He lampooned Joe McCarthy when doing so was basically career suicide.

Here's a fun quote from Wikipedia:

When The Providence Bulletin issued an ultimatum in 1954, threatening to drop the strip if Malarkey's face appeared in the strip again, Kelly had Malarkey throw a bag over his head as Miss "Sis" Boombah (a Rhode Island Red hen) approached, explaining "no one from Providence should see me!" Kelly thought Malarkey's new look was especially appropriate because the bag over his head resembled a Klansman's hood. (Kelly would later attack the Klan directly, in a comic nightmare parable called "The Kluck Klams," included in The Pogo Poop Book, 1966).

Hey, thanks for the update. I'm not familiar with Walt Kelly's career but your post explains why such a simple pamphlet might be bristling with so much personality...