History is Groovy
Three cartoon boys, somewhat reminiscent of Fat Albert , mounted on springs above the slogan “History is Groovy”.
The objects I like best are ones that have no obvious origin. No one has been able to give me a good answer to explain the intention of “History is Groovy”. Attempts have ranged from the prosaic – “It's probably from some defunct cartoon series”, to the bizarre – “Perhaps it was a school History prize”. (I won a History prize once, and received a book of Bush Verse. I don't remember anyone getting frivolous plastic figurines.)
I have spent a long time observing “History is Groovy”, investigating possible meanings. One boy holds a white stick, and appears to be running off to beat something with it. The middle boy looks as if he has no idea what is going on, with his palms turned up and a confused expression. The third boy stares wide eyed through his glasses, as if watching a spaceship land.
The alien spaceship idea is my current theory. A sticker on the back of the figurine displays the date of manufacture - 1972 - a time in which alien spaceship landings were regarded with more interest than cynicism. Boy 1 takes the offensive, running off to beat the aliens with his stick. Boy 2 wants someone to explain what is going on. Perhaps they have walked onto a movie set, or some secret experiment. Boy 3 stares wide eyed, amazed by the spacecraft, hoping that he will be taken away by them, to a world in which no one teases him for his thick glasses and saggy pink shirt.
This theory crumbles when trying to apply “History is Groovy”. What makes this object eternally fascinating is that the slogan and the figures seem to bear no relation to one another. I keep trying to match them together, but there is no satisfying answer.