Short Stuff: Uncle Sam Wants YOU! | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

[Music]. hey and welcome to the short stuff Josh. Chuck Jerry Dave let's. go I could not for the life of me find. out where we have talked about Uncle Sam. before and it had to be one of our. videos but I couldn't find it I I. checked a million times over and it was. not a short stuff I couldn't find it. anywhere but I know for sure the only. reason I know this is because we've. talked about it it had to be our fourth.

of July special that we did with the. onion and The Daily Show that keeps. coming back to ha us huh yeah cuz we had. another one the other day that was I. think in there yeah I bet you it was. yeah it had to be right yeah but who. cares let's tell the real story Josh and. Chuck style yeah we're going to talk. about Uncle Sam if you don't know who. Uncle Sam is then by God you're not much. of an. American uh yeah I mean how would you. describe Uncle Sam a a um a a a cartoon. a Dr drawing of a of a man who has.

become synonymous and a symbol of the. United States of America a a logo almost. yeah if you've ever seen somebody. wearing a red white and blue stov top. hat with um or top hat with h stars on. it that's an Uncle Sam hat yeah you ever. see somebody wearing an American flag um. suit they're basically doing their best. Uncle Sam you ever seen anybody with a a. beard.

they're pretending their Uncle Sam yeah. if you've ever seen a picture of all. those things put together and a guy. pointing at you on a poster saying I. want you to do whatever join the Army or. give money for war bonds uh that's Uncle. Sam yeah so our our conception of Uncle. Sam the one you just described is thanks. to a great illustrator who was working. around the time America entered the. first world war name one of the Great.

names of all time James Montgomery flag. with two G's love that guy's name but he. was an amazing illustrator and painter. and he painted that iconic image of. Uncle Sam looking out from the poster. pointing at you the viewer that I want. you um I remember the Simpsons where it. was like the immigration episode Homer. put up a poster he asked that poo if he. could put up a poster in his convenience. store and it was Uncle Sam saying I want. you.

out do you remember that one uhuh no. that's funny though and AUD took the. took the occasion to talk about how much. he loved America and Homer goes wow you. know what aoo I'm really gonna miss. you uh that's that's great you should. say it as a PO though right no should. not um the funny thing about this poster. that came around in 1917 and we'll get. this is not the first incarnation of. Uncle Sam but it's the most most famous.

that we know now uh but James Montgomery. flag supposedly was inspired by a. British minister of War Lord kitner um. but he used his own handsome face as the. actual model and if you look up a. picture of James Montgomery flag you're. and you know he put wrinkles he was. younger and a gray beard but if you. picture that guy with that Gray beard. and hair it's Uncle Sam yeah for sure. and pretty neat yeah it was like there. was a that Lord kitner poster was. essentially the exact same thing drawing.

of Lord kitner looking out from the. poster pointing at you saying he wants. you to sign up to help and both of these. posters were propaganda posters from. World War I that the one that um flag. designed of Uncle Sam had printed been. printed four million times four million. copies of a poster that Farah faucet. poster hadn't even been printed four. million times that's how that's how. successful this poster was right and. this was all just before um the war was. over so in about about 2 years uh it was.

printed 4 million times the thing is is. I'm sure there's people out there are. like well yeah that's the origin of. Uncle Sam and friend you'd be wrong. Uncle Sam had been around for at least. about a hundred years by the time um. James Montgomery flag made his iconic. poster and I say we take a break we come. back and we talk about that very issue. you to know you're in luck just listen. up to Josh and Chuck. stuff you should.

[Music]. know stuff you. should know. stop you. should. know all right so the origins of Uncle. Sam uh there was a story that many. people believe for a long time that it. came about um during the War of. 1812 and that it was named such um or. the character was named such because of.

Uncle Sam Wilson who was a meat Packer. from New York who supplied uh beef these. big barrels of beef to the Army for the. War of 1812 they had US stamps on them. and they called those barrels of beef. Uncle Sam's uh that was published and. republished many many times starting uh. in the New York Gazette in 1930 uh. leading to a congressional resolution in. 1961 recognizing Sam Wilson but that is. not the or of Uncle Sam right no I mean.

a lot of people think Sam Wilson was the. the guy who started it all I mean that. story everything comes together so close. like he really was a real person he. really was working in the War of 1812. the barrels of meat really were stamped. us but some really dedicated historians. um one by the name of Don hickey from. Wayne State College another one named. Christopher philippo um they both got to.

the bottom of this and found that. very very shortly before the Uncle Sam. Wilson story uh could have happened. people were already using Uncle Sam as a. a way of um depicting or talking about. the United States of America as a whole. exactly uh they found some actual proof. proof and uh from an 1810 diary from a. 16-year-old sailor on the USS Wasp uh. where he read was you know seasick and.

not feeling so good and he wrote I swear. that Uncle Sam as they call him would. certainly forever have lost the services. of at least one sailor and that was in. 1810 so it was if he was using it in a. diary entry in 1810 that means it was. what I would consider probably fairly. common usage at that point right that. that guy almost certainly didn't make. that up in that diary entry yeah um so. yeah the the thing is is even though Sam. Wilson wasn't the actual direct.

inspiration for Uncle Sam he certainly. helped kind of popularize it I think he. probably his association with it and the. story that came from that um probably. took it from what may have just been. relegated to Navy lingo that would have. become archaic to now it has a story and. it's spread from there so even though he. didn't Inspire it it's still like yeah. Uncle Sam Wilson definitely had a huge. role in the the creation of the idea of.

Uncle Sam yeah absolutely uh in fact. there was a minister I believe at Sam. the real Sam Wilson's Funeral uh that. there was um uh he wrote a letter that. said that he had often talked with. Wilson uh quote about the circumstances. which led to the singular transfer of. his popular name to the United States so. it sounds like what that's saying is. that Sam Wilson even knew that yes for. sure and went along with it right he's. like yeah yeah it was it was all me and.

he'd look furtively around um so there. was another character that I hadn't. heard of a guy named brother Jonathan. did you heard of. him uh I had not I didn't think but that. then I also think that we may have. brought this up because those pictures. looked very familiar okay they did not. to me but there was a character named. brother Jonathan who was who predated. Uncle Sam by a couple of decades brother. Jonathan was the original. personification of America around the. time with a revolution he dressed like a.

revolutionary cat with a tri-cornered. hat and those tails and the the like. coat with Tails and everything uh but he. was much more. rambunctious much younger um I saw. editorial cartoon of him um forcibly. pouring a bunch of French Brandy down. the throat of John bu the character who. personified Great Britain and still does. um and he was around for decades and. eventually he kind of handed the Baton.

off to Uncle Sam which is really. interesting because it it happened as as. a time when America was starting to. mature the the character personifying. America went from a younger rambunctious. Brandy forcing character to a much more. like. older Stern kind of downto Earth um. pointer. guy yeah I think brother Jonathan went. away by the 18 like there was some.

overlap there uh went away in the. 1860s and then um Thomas Nast and that's. a pretty big name in cartooning back. then right for sure he kind of gave us. the conception of Santa Claus the prec. cocacola S CL that's right that's right. I knew I knew that name from somewhere. uh but Nas is the one who sort of came. up with the more modern image and then. flag of course made the iconic one that. we still use that same exact sort of.

character right um and so let's see what. else Chuck well I mean one of the ways. you know if you've still never seen much. Uncle Sam besides um recruitment posters. and stuff like that or the old. propaganda posters that flag was tasked. with with drawing um is in political. cartoons you'll still see to this day. like a political cartoon that will use. Uncle Sam in a variety of ways whether. it's a belie leered Uncle Sam in a in a.

food line or a or a warmongering Uncle. Sam like you know any way they can it's. not just like kind of one use whenever. he's in a political cartoon they can he. can adapt and change to suit whatever. message you're trying to deliver yeah. whatever whatever um comment you're. making on America you just make Uncle. Sam do it yeah there's also a 1996. slasher film called Uncle Sam and I was. reading about it and it's the the horror. fan blog was like it's not a mustsee but.

you could see it right essentially is. what they were seeing it's a movie that. exists but Robert Forster in it he plays. like a corrupt congressman who dies. isn't that interesting what year was it. 96 okay so that was pre Jackie Brown. yeah around that. time I I would think it wouldn't be post. Jackie Brown no did he blow up after. Jackie Brown not blew up but was defin.

relevant enough to probably not be in. the Uncle Sam slasher movie he landed a. role on Breaking Bad season 5 at least. right oh was he in that yeah he was the. guy sorry for spoilers everybody if you. haven't seen Breaking Bad yet but he was. the guy who brought um oh I can't. remember the main character's name but. uh um Malcolm In The Middle's Dad yeah. uh supplies when heal Walter White yes. when he was hiding out in New Hampshire. Vermont or wherever he was the guy who.

was just basically waiting for him to. die so he could take his money here's. your things that I'm going to deliver to. your house and now if you could just. give me your. money that's my my best impression of. him that was great I thought it was. Robert Forster speaking just now and by. the way Jackie Brown was 97 so kind of. right around that. time for my money uh the the most. underrated Tarantino film yeah maybe. Tarantino saw him in slasher and was. like that's my guy you never know that. was a good movie I don't know if his.

most underrated yeah maybe maybe I could. see that sure it was a good one he's. he's got a lot of overrated movies yeah. he's got a few under his belt for sure. but he's also got some of the greatest. of all time agreed he's look he's all. over the map y uh yeah and I'm really. sad to hear that he's planning on making. his last movie although apparently he. scuttled the project that was his last. movie oh yeah because people had like. spies had infiltrated it and he got. pretty far into it was like nope I'm.

making something else for my last movie. then huh and you know how that goes sber. was supposed to retire too then he did. like 40 more things okay all right well. that's good that's hopeful so obviously. we started talking about Quinton. Tarantino and the Uncle Sam short stuff. which means short stuff is. out stuff you should know is a. production of iHeart radio for more. podcasts my heart radio visit the iHeart. Radio app Apple podcasts or wherever you. listen to your favorite shows.

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