Elsie the Cow, 1939

Hi Guys,

Recently, Flapper Foxy posted a cool pic of her 1930s cow lady, Bessie.  You can see it right here:

  https://hybridfabulousfurryfun.blogspot.com/2021/01/1930s-hats-bessie-and-beatrice.html

This got me to thinking about Elsie the Cow, another bovine beauty of the Depression era.  Elsie arrived on the scene in 1936, but it wasn't until 1939 that she really started to become a household name.  In that year, she became the centerpiece of the Borden Exhibit at the New York World's Fair.  It was a little confusing, because Elsie was both a cartoon character and a real-live cow, but people didn't mind.  In fact, Elsie became a huge hit with all of the folks who made the pilgrimage to the World of Tomorrow!

 

 

Even so, there were some problems.  Was Elsie supposed to be an actual cow or an anthro cow?  For a while, it looked like the Borden execs couldn't make up their minds!  Some of the World's Fair giveaways from the Borden Exhibit show Elsie as a regular old cow who walks on four legs and pretty much acts like a cow -- except she can talk.  But in other paraphernalia from the same exhibit, she stands on two legs and wears a flower lei made of daisies.

Then at one point, she's sporting an apron and cooking stuff in the kitchen.  Man, she sure looks enthusiastic about the brown gunk dripping from that spoon!  

 

 

It starts to get weird with stuff like this.  I guess this postcard is supposed to be funny, but something about it doesn't sit right.  It probably didn't help that the original Elsie design, as drawn by Walter Early, is maybe a little too manic.  It kinda goes against the idea that milk is supposed to be wholesome and pure! 

I think the guys at Borden were thinking the same thing, because within a year or two, Elsie started to look like the anthro cow that we all know and love!  Here she is, along with one of her kids, in a Borden cookbook from 1942.  Throughout the 1940s, Elsie took shape as a typical suburban housewife and ideal mom.  The fact that she was also a cow became more or less a sidebar issue.  By the time the next world's fair rolled around in 1964, Elsie was looking as put-together as Jackie Onassis!

 

Those sure are some swell furs she's got on!  Anyhow, my point is that Elsie  was a fully developed anthro character decades before there was such a thing as the furry fandom!  Now you might say that there were other such characters around, like that mouse dude and Donald what's-his-name... and maybe Bugs Bunny, but they were 'toons.  In my opinion, that's not quite the same thing.  Elsie deserves some recognition for being one high class lady cow.  Sure, she started off a little rocky, but you gotta expect that when you're breaking new ground!  

OK guys, that's all for now.  See you next time!

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