[Ads-l] "Who was Kilroy?" June 26, 1945 (in-print antedating?)

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>
> Life (March 8, 1946) has a significant column by Elizabeth Reeves entitled,
> "Wot! Chad's Here / Britain's war gremlin becomes a symbol of civilian
> problems." The accompanying drawing shows the familiar nose looking over a
> brick wall with a question mark over the bald dome, but with the unusual
> detail of a plus sign in one eye and a minus in the other. There seems to
> be a minus sign near the end of the nose as well.

The September 10, 1945 article in "The Daily Mirror" shows a sequence
of three pictures for "Mr. Chad" (plus some additional figures). The
first shows an abstract figure based on a mathematical graph.  There
is an x-axis and an oscillating waveform. There is a curve above the
x-axis followed by a curve below the x-axis followed by a curve above
the x-axis.

The second figure duplicates the first, but contains two plus signs
and a minus sign. The plus signs are placed where at the pupil
locations of the rudimentary figure. The minus sign is placed on the
nose.

The third figure duplicates the second and adds details. It looks
somewhat similar to the "Mr. Chad" in LIFE, but both eyes have plus
signs.

Garson

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