This column originally appeared in April 2010.
Casper, the friendly ghost, the friendliest ghost you know!
The grownups might look at him with fright, but the children all love him so.
He always says hello, and he’s really glad to meet ya’
wherever he may go, he’s kind to every living creature.
Grownups don’t understand, why children love him the most,
But kids all know that he loves them so, Casper the friendly ghost!
Yeah, everyone knows the song and my guess is that while you were reading it, you started singing it. It will probably be stuck in your head for the rest of the day. People ask me all the time how I developed an affinity for all things “ghostly.” Well, as a partial explanation, I can point to my meeting “Casper, the friendly ghost” at IPS Lew Wallace School 107 and then again at my dentist’s office around 1970. I distinctly remember a large costumed character showing up at school and handing out Casper dental comic books. At least I think it was a costumed character.
Casper didn’t talk, he simply handed us a comic, a little red pill and a toothbrush. We were instructed to chew up the pill, go into the restroom and look in the mirror. So, we did as we were told and went to the privy to see that our teeth were now turned a hideous reddish-purple color. I immediately thought of blood and wondered just what the heck had happened here. We were told later that the blood red color represented plaque we had missed from previous brushing. Then we were ushered back into the restroom to brush it off, which none of the boys did, preferring instead to walk around the rest of the day scaring female classmates.
I was thrilled to see Casper. After all, I watched his cartoons and read his comic books. However, as I got older I began to wonder, who is “Casper the friendly ghost?” Is he the spirit of some unfortunate fat little boy and if so, how did he die? Somehow I remembered hearing that Casper “lived” in graveyard next to a tombstone and that he had a mom and a dad, but was he “born” a ghost or what? If you grew up between the Eisenhower and Reagan administrations, you’re one of the countless multitudes of young readers who enjoyed the stories about the precocious little ghost. After all, comic books were the currency of our childhood; acquired with nickels and dimes of allowance money, carried in knapsacks and back pockets and traded on playgrounds and school buses. For many post-War, pre-digital kids, Harvey comics was their first exposure to the literary world of written humor, witty wordplay and subtle sarcasm, all presented in a clear voice complete with pictures.
The otherworldly nature of many of Harvey comic’s characters has its genesis in the company’s earlier, more notorious output. Harvey comics began with superhero titles in the 1940s, but founder Alfred Harvey courted controversy in the early ‘50s with memorable comics like “Chamber of Chills” and “Tomb of Terror.” During the Joe McCarthy “Red Scare” era, New York Senator Robert Hendrickson convened a Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency in 1954 in the wake of psychiatrist Frederic Wertham’s cautionary manifesto “Seduction of the Innocent” aimed at the corruption of our nation’s youth by rock-n-roll music, movies and comic books.
Smartly, Harvey comics changed course, pushing “Casper, the friendly ghost” on its youthful readership as an alternative. While the “Casper” subject matter may have been subtly subversive, it never overshadowed the core message of optimism, acceptance and respect.
Casper was depicted as a cute ghost-child with a New York accent, who preferred making friends with people instead of scaring them. Casper was encouraged by his “ghost friends” to scare people but instead ran away from home to make new friends. However, the animals he met (a rooster, a mole, a cat, a mouse, and a group of hens) took one horrified look at him and ran off in the other direction. Distraught, Casper unsuccessfully attempted to commit suicide by laying himself down on a railway track before an oncoming train (apparently forgetting that he’s already dead) before he met two little children named Bonnie and Johnny who became his friends. The children’s mother at first was frightened of Casper, but later welcomes him into the family and sent him off with her children into town wearing clothes (evidently in an effort to hide his ghostly nakedness).
What may have begun as a defensive maneuver by Harvey comics grew into a strategy for success, as Casper, Sad Sack, Baby Huey and Little Audrey became comic book stars in a place called “Harveyville.” Sad Sack begat Little Dot, Richie Rich and Little Lotta. Casper begat Wendy, Spooky, Nightmare and Hot Stuff. Unlike much of 1950’s America, Harveyville was successfully integrated as early as 1952, when Little Audrey’s friend Tiny was introduced and her race was never addressed, nor were the differences between any of the inhabitants of Richville, Bonnie Dell or the Enchanted Forest.
“Casper, the friendly ghost” is easily Harvey comic’s most famous character, second only to Mickey Mouse in worldwide recognition. Created by animator Joe Oriolo and writer Sy Reit, Casper first appeared in 1945 and, with his 55 theatrical cartoons, was Paramount studio’s biggest animated star after Popeye. Paramount sought out comic book publishers and toy manufacturers in an early effort to cash in on products featuring Casper’s image.
Al Hunter is the author of the “Haunted Indianapolis” and co-author of the “Haunted Irvington” and “Indiana National Road” book series. His newest books are “Bumps in the Night. Stories from the Weekly View,” “Irvington Haunts. The Tour Guide,” and “The Mystery of the H.H. Holmes Collection.” Contact Al directly at Huntvault@aol.com or become a friend on Facebook.