Beetle (Bailey) Mania

When I had my kids, I looked forward so much to sharing my favorite books, shows, songs and movies with them. In my daydreams, they ADORED everything, and thereafter their bookshelves would be stacked with novels by Galsworthy and Dickens, and their playlists packed with the music of Pink Floyd and Yes (I didn’t say my tastes were consistent😉). 

In reality, while some of my faves did click, my enthusiasms were mostly met with puzzled indifference. I get it; I was neither a Glenn Miller big band, nor a Grace Metallious (Peyton Place) fangirl, even though Mom loved both. And now that Aiden and Peter are school aged, I’ve been resigned to the fact that they probably won’t cherish The Past’s Biggest Hits. 

 

So imagine my surprise when the guys became huge fans of a real throwback--Beetle Bailey comics! I mean, what? The strip has run since the 1950s, and while it’s still carried in newspapers today (drawn by Mort Walker’s sons now), I assumed its enduring popularity was centered on Boomer readers, and not on the under-10 set.

 

I confess that, as a youth, I merely skimmed Beetle and friends’ adventures in the Sunday papers, in favor of Blondie and Dagwood and (blush to disclose) Mary Worth. I couldn’t identify one bit with the army barracks setting, lazy Beetle, silly, obnoxious Sarge, smooth talking Killer, clueless Zero and blustering General Halftrack. I couldn’t have told you the difference between mess hall and the PX to save my life. 

 

My total disinterest extended to TV: Gomer Pyle USMC, F-Troop, and McHale’s Navy. Ours was not a military family for one thing; for another, I just didn’t get most of the jokes. Even now, with a son who was a Naval Academy grad and a  submarine officer, I still fail to see the knee-slapping humor of enlisted life. All that screaming! All that barking of orders! Fun times?

 

But the boys! They’re just crazy about Beetle Bailey! Sher and Yaj have hunted down collections of nearly all the decades’ strips, which are treasured additions to their home library. Some of the appeal is definitely the broad, easily-graspable characters, and the goofy plot lines. Beetle Bailey is also a harmless, battle-adjacent way to vicariously experience soldiers’ lives, an interest that has captivated children (especially of the male variety) for ages. 

 

Steve and I were always totally anti-war, with no toy weapons allowed for our offspring, yet Sher, Ev and Pat still found ways to make pretend guns: building them out of Legos, cutting them from cardboard, even gnawing their breakfast toast (!) into the correct shape and firing away at each other. 

 

In our current, conflict-ridden world, I do wish we wouldn’t glamorize military life, or play it for laughs. If everyone would just lay down their arms, and reach their human arms out to one another, we could have a peaceful planet at last. 

 

Until then, though, I guess it’s Fun with Beetle and Sarge around here.