Your Country Needs You

by James Taylor

  New Zealand

  The New Zealand Expeditionary Force of soldiers fought with Australia as the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) at Gallipoli. Additional New Zealand forces also served in Palestine and on the Western Front.

  A collection of around 130 recruiting posters now forms part of the Museum of New Zealand/Te Papa Tongarewa, in Wellington. Originally part of a larger group, the posters were acquired towards the end of and immediately after the war – for an intended national war museum in Wellington that was never built. The posters were subsequently donated to various collections, and an excellent article by Stephanie Gibson, one of the curators, examined in detail how they were acquired and the reception of the posters at the time. At the time of writing, her article can be found on the museum’s website.

  Gibson emphasised that New Zealand’s advertising industry during the war was relatively undeveloped and the Government Printing Office was depleted of staff, as they were serving in the war. So, for pragmatic and economic reasons, the government was reliant on donations of PRC posters from Britain, as well as purchasing designs from Australia.

  ‘It’s Our Flag’ (Priv.)

  Among the photographs of recruiting stations in New Zealand, one of the Auckland station on 23rd April 1917 stands out clearly as a vivid example of which posters were favoured for public display. It was photographed by Henry Winkelmann and is part of the Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries. It reveals the array of British posters affixed to the recruitment building and above the porch, including: IT’S OUR FLAG, designed by Guy Lipscombe; and TAKE UP THE SWORD OF JUSTICE, by Bernard Partridge. Between them is a poster entitled COME LADS GIVE US A SPELL by Annie J. Hope Campbell, which was published by the Victoria State Parliamentary Recruiting Committee, Australia, in 1915. It depicted soldiers within a Gallipoli-like landscape’. There is no sign of the BRITONS – WANTS YOU poster, or the David Allen and Sons variant. Gibson noted that as the photograph was taken in April 1917 the posters displayed must have been there for many months as conscription had been introduced in 1916.

  Within the collections of the Imperial War Museum in London there is a New Zealand poster depicting a giant hand with pointing finger that is clearly an adaptation of Leete’s Lord Kitchener cartoon. It is entitled YOU BE IN THE 3RD LIBERTY LOAN – £35,000,000 (IWM reference: PST 16810), but it was produced during World War II. However, the slogan ‘Your Country Needs YOU’ was actively used during World War I in various New Zealand newspapers – notably in the Fielding Star, Ohinemuri Gazette and Wanganui Chronicle, among others.

  Around 100,000 New Zealand troops and medical personnel served overseas throughout the war, excluding those in British and other Dominion forces, from a population of just over a million. The casualties in terms of injuries and deaths were incredibly high, one of the highest of the war per capita, with more than 18,000 killed and 41,317 wounded.51

  The Librarian, Parliament Library, Melbourne

  ‘I am in receipt of your letter of the 1st ult., together with the fine recruiting poster enclosed. I have displayed it in a prominent place in the Library.’

  Mr M. Marks, 250, Wellington Street, Collingwood, Victoria, 21st June 1915

  ‘Your posters are serving their purpose in a most pronounced manner, as since their display the number of those enlisting has considerably increased.’

  Auckland recruiting station, 1917 (Auckland Libraries)

  Gordon Sprigg, Royal Colonial Institute, Northumberland Avenue, W.C., 3rd September, 1915

  ‘Your posters have aroused a tremendous amount of enthusiasm and have given great impetus to recruiting in the states of the Australian Commonwealth.’

  Rev. E.H. Stammer, St. John’s Vicarage, Uralla, N.S.W. [no date given]

  ‘The packet of recruiting posters you forwarded at the end of July duly arrived, and have done their little bit towards stimulating recruits. They are very effective indeed.’

  Sergt. R. Mc. C. Sprott, Napier Troop, Legion of Frontiersman, Port Ahuriri, Napier, N.Z., 6th December 1915

  ‘Please accept our very best thanks for the very fine posters you so kindly forwarded me. I had them mounted on calico and rollers and varnished, so that they will last for some time in open weather, and distributed them to the very best advantage.

  Flagg’s ‘I Want YOU For U.S. Army’ (LoC)

  CHAPTER 5

  JAMES MONTGOMERY FLAGG

  ‘I WANT YOU FOR U.S. ARMY’

  IN 1917, AFTER THE USA declared war against Germany on 6th April, Leete’s war cartoon of Kitchener was transformed into the popular poster of Uncle Sam, with the slogan ‘I Want You For U.S. Army’, by the immensely talented and high-earning cartoonist, illustrator and poster designer James Montgomery Flagg (1877–1960).

  Cartoon of Uncle Sam and the US annexation of Hawaii, 1897 (LoC)

  In his autobiography, Roses and Buckshot (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, New York, 1946), Flagg claimed that four million of his posters were printed and distributed during World War I. Although the difficulty of tracing official records means that it is hard to confirm this figure, it is known that more than one million copies of Ellsworth Young’s ‘Remember Belgium’ were produced. This poster, different to the British poster of the same name, capitalised on American outrage at the atrocities committed by the Germans at the beginning of the war, and depicted in silhouette a German soldier leading away a girl. Flagg’s creation had a longer-lasting purpose and so the number of posters he claimed were printed is likely to be close to the mark.52

  Ellsworth Young’s ‘Remember Belgium’ (LoC)

  Flagg’s vision of Uncle Sam

  The origins of Uncle Sam, arguably the most popular personification of the United States of America, are obscure. It is possible that he derives from a meat packer, or meat inspector, called Samuel Wilson (1766–1854) who supplied the army during the war of 1812 against Britain. This Uncle Sam was renowned for his fairness, honesty and reliability, and was devoted to his country.

  However, there are other sources for Uncle Sam that are of a fictional and pictorial nature. Probably the earliest mention of Uncle Sam in literature can be found in the allegorical book The Adventures of Uncle Sam in Search After His Lost Honor, by Frederick Augustus Fidfaddy, first published in 1816.53

  Flagg’s portrayal of Uncle Sam’s clothing is reminiscent of the design and colour elements of the flag of the United States. His flamboyant character creation brings to mind the apparel and imagery from the first half of the nineteenth century, and this is not surprising as the artist was indeed inspired by the war of 1812, ironically a war fought by the USA against the British Empire.

  Flagg’s Uncle Sam is a stern, elderly man with white hair and a goatee beard, and could be said to resemble President Abraham Lincoln. However, other sources suggest that an old American soldier was also a significant source for the portrait. Flagg himself would later dress up in the costume with make-up for photographic shoots and special occasions – he is reported to have said later that it was a self-portrait and this was simply to avoid the trouble of arranging for a model. Flagg’s resourcefulness was praised by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) and Flagg, who greatly admired this politician, went on to adapt his Uncle Sam character for posters to support FDR’s political campaigns and projects.54

  Far from being an original creation, though, new evidence firmly points to the fact that Flagg was inspired by nineteenth-century pictorial designs and posters that featured Uncle Sam. In addition, he would have been familiar with the popular European magazines such as The Bystander, London Opinion and Punch. He would almost certainly have seen Leete’s wartime cartoon, entitled ‘Can He Stay There?’, published on the front cover of The Bystander on 24th February 1915. It depicted Uncle Sam, similar to Flagg’s creation but this time featured as a circus performer precariously balanced on a high-wire named ‘neutrality’. He balances a pole bearing at each end the names of Great Britain and Germany. It was one of many such cartoons critic
ising the isolationist policy of the USA produced before that country formally entered the war to support Britain.

  Flagg poster in support of FD Roosevelt (LoC)

  The stern Uncle Sam portrayed by Flagg (LoC)

  As Lucinda Gosling noted in her profusely illustrated publication Brushes & Bayonets – Cartoons, Sketches and Paintings of World War I (in association with The Illustrated London News, Osprey, 2008): ‘After the torpedoing of the Cunard passenger liner Lusitania in May 1915, Britain felt sure the United States would enter the war. She did, but not until two years after the event, leading to much satirising of Uncle Sam’s hesitation and rather ineffective attempts at diplomacy. In fact, Woodrow Wilson won a second term of presidency in 1916 with the slogan, “He kept us out of the war,” although Germany’s continuing submarine warfare eventually led to his capitulation… Even when America did join it was as an “associate power” rather than as a member of the Allies.’

  There are many earlier pictorial precedents for Uncle Sam but what sets Flagg’s design apart in the USA (although not in Britain) is the forcefulness of his character. Traditionally he was portrayed in the USA as a benign old man, but under Flagg’s hand he was transformed into a dominant character, a forceful leader who meant business.

  ‘Mr Flagg is a vehement man!’

  Promotional literature accompanying Flagg’s autobiography is revealing in terms of his achievements and character. A public relations agent wrote: ‘All his life he has made friends and enemies lavishly. In Roses and Buckshot he tosses brush, palette and caution to the winds… He writes candidly of the hundreds of famous people he has known and of his numerous love-affairs and hate-affairs. Mr. Flagg is a vehement man! “Give him alphabet soup”, a friend has said, “and he only eats the exclamation points!”’

  Judge magazine cover, 1912 (Priv.)

  The PR writer continued: ‘Across the canvas of his fifty-odd years as an artist moves an almost unbelievable parade of presidents, statesmen, stage celebrities, not to mention several of his models who rose to Hollywood stardom – Norma Shearer, for instance.’

  Flagg portrayed in drawings and watercolours the acting greats and celebrities of Hollywood, often commenting upon them too. Many were featured in Photoplay magazine. They included his close friend Jack Barrymore (‘A great scholar, a great actor, a great occultist, a great drinker, a great swordsman, a great conversationalist, a great companion, a great wit and a great gent’) and William S. Hart, along with Marlene Dietrich, who surprised Flagg by showing no interest in seeing the finished portrait.

  Flagg’s drawings for St. Nicholas magazine, aged twelve (www.animationresources.org)

  He also portrayed W.C. Fields (‘the greatest and subtlest low comedian of his era’), Joan Fontaine (‘She has everything’), Greta Garbo (‘I have always regretted that I was stupid enough not to take up her offer that night to come East and be my model’), Katharine Hepburn (‘When do we begin?’ she asked Flagg. ‘As soon as you sit like a lady,’ he replied), Bob Hope (‘World Famous for his giving joyous laughter to millions. Maybe he is funny!’), Hedy Lamarr (‘It would be only a blind and deaf man who wouldn’t fall in love with her’), Merle Oberon (‘Much more beautiful to meet than to see’), Victor Mature (‘Almost too good looking, but no swish about him’), William Powell (‘A special favorite of mine, intelligent, witty, sensitive to others, and a gentleman’) and Jane Russell (‘Perhaps the last word in sultritude [sic]’).55

  Flagg himself was fascinated by acting and acted himself in amateur productions, and also wrote and performed in twelve silent films.

  The American portrait artist Everett Raymond Kinstler was a close friend of Flagg’s towards the end of his life. He delivered a eulogy at Flagg’s funeral in 1960. Kinstler has also provided insightful information on the remarkable talent and nature of his friend. In private correspondence he wrote: ‘I am sure that you know that Flagg’s WWI “I Want You” 1917 poster, was originally a cover for Leslie’s magazine… In addition, to being a fine painter, and a famous magazine illustrator for almost 50 years, Flagg painted hundreds of personal watercolors. In style they were very influenced by Sargent [John Singer Sargent], a fact he was quick to acknowledge. I suspect you know that Flagg was a brilliant cartoonist and caricaturist. His weekly comic strip “Nervy Nat” [a tramp character] appeared in Life magazine for many years [1903–1907]. Flagg published several books of his limericks illustrated with his witty cartoons. His death prompted front-page news nationally and Time magazine devoted two pages to him under ‘National Affairs’.56

  James Montgomery Flagg was born in Pelham Manor, New York, into a prosperous upper-middle class family. He was not fond of his mother but enjoyed a close relationship with his father, who worked for American Express. He had a precocious talent and by the age of twelve he had sold his first illustration to St. Nicholas magazine, the leading illustrated children’s publication, for the sum of $10. At fourteen he became a regular contributing artist for Life magazine. He later landed a job on the staff of another magazine called Judge.

  However, there were some setbacks. Flagg was rejected from the National Academy School and instead he attended the Arts Student League of New York from 1894 to 1898, despite being dubious about the value of art tuition. In Roses and Buckshot he asserted, with an Oscar Wilde-ish turn of phrase, that ‘There are no art teachers. Art cannot be taught. Artists are born that way. They educate themselves, or else they do not become educated… I happen to have been born an artist. Ask anyone who doesn’t know. I wasted six years of my young life in art schools. As far as any benefit accruing to me from them – I was working on the outside all the time, anyway. Nothing but total disability or death could have stopped me. I had to be an artist – I was born that way… You can’t breed an artist. You can only breed mediocrity.’57

  From 1898 to 1900, Flagg visited England and France and got up to all manner of adventures; some of an amorous nature and others in pursuit of pornographic magazines in London. He was often accompanied by his friend and fellow Arts Student League artist, Richard Kimbrough, or ‘Kimmy’, and together they enrolled at Hubert von Herkomer’s school in Bushey in Hertfordshire. Herkomer was the artist who painted the pictures of Baden-Powell and Lord Kitchener that hang in the National Portrait Gallery, London.58

  The arrival at Herkomer’s house and school was captured in Flagg’s characteristic colourful and often breathless prose: ‘We went in the rain to Herkomer’s reception and were turned away from the front door. We seemed to be the only students who were astonished to be classed with tradesmen (our social position in Bushey was unique) and were shooed in the back door where we fell over stacked umbrellas and galoshes. We were presented to “the Great Man.” He was a Bavarian Hebrew who looked like an unpleasant caricature of Sir Henry Irving, who in turn looked like a caricature of Dante. Herkomer had both the manner and appearance of an actor with a well-advanced case of jaundice… He was the big shot of the town.’59

  Artwork for Life magazine (Priv.)

  Whilst studying at Herkomer’s school Flagg and Kimmy made appointments with the magazine editors and owners of magazines in London. Flagg submitted drawings to Astor’s Pall Mall magazine and was especially fond of Lord Frederick Hamilton, ‘who was cordial to whippersnappers, and offered his own gilt-crown-embossed cigarettes to us. A damn nice Lord. He even bought drawings at better prices than usual. I used to get five pounds instead of the usual two and a half to three. [At his peak, Flagg was reported to have been the highest paid magazine illustrator in America.] He had amusing framed admonitions hanging on pillars and walls downstairs, like… “The Editor is invisible before twelve noon” and “Artists will please remember when making illustrations that frock coats are not worn in the country.”’60

  Portrait of Flagg (Priv.)

  ‘Flirtation’ by Flagg (Priv.)

  Flagg found, however, that not everyone was to his taste or was enamoured with him. He disliked the British Ambassador Lord Halifax and also John
Lane, the Bodley Head publisher, because ‘He insulted one through his silly monocle. He sneered at my drawings and my being American, but in a slick way so there wasn’t quite enough excuse to sock him. I have never before or since met such a sneering editor.’61

  He met one of his art heroes, John Singer Sargent, in London but he was not impressed with the man, believing him to be ‘more English than the English, in fact, not to be too refined about it, his manner was snotty’.62

  Flagg was certainly a conspicuous bohemian, an incorrigible individualist who invariably made the headlines with his escapades around New York, where he lived and worked. He was remarkably versatile, being an actor, artist, author, cartoonist, illustrator, motion-picture writer, poet and satirist. In terms of his art he could work in oils, charcoal, pencil, pen-and-ink, watercolours and created sculpture. The one medium that he openly disliked was pastel. However, Flagg, like Alfred Leete, focused on commercial work and he never claimed to be a fine artist. Susan Meyer reminded us in her 1974 biography of Flagg (Watson-Guptill, New York) that ‘he was proud of his career as an illustrator. He was frequently quoted as saying, “The difference between an artist and an illustrator is that the latter knows how to draw, eats three square meals a day and can pay for them.”’63

  Although he revelled in his bohemian life-style, Flagg’s taste for art was conservative and he loathed above all Picasso of whom he said: ‘His work is akin to the nasty scrawls chalked on an alley wall by underprivileged monster boys.’ He was not a fan of Cezanne, Manet, Renoir or Van Gogh. His views were direct, often provocative and thought provoking too: ‘It’s silly to speak of modern art. There’s no such thing. Art is good or bad, time has nothing to do with it.’64