From today's AFA Daily Report:
Face of the Home Front Dies: Geraldine Hoff Doyle, the iconic face of "Rosie the Riveter" depicted on the famous World War II "We Can Do It!" poster, has died in Lansing, Mich. She was 86. Her death on Dec. 26 was the result of complications associated with arthritis, reports the New York Times. In 1942, a United Press photographer aiding the war effort snapped a photo of Doyle, then 17 years old, at a metal-pressing plant near Ann Arbor, Mich. Unbeknownst to Doyle, Westinghouse War Production Committee-commissioned artist J. Howard Miller used Doyle's face as inspiration for the now, classic poster, which ironically, she had never noticed until 1984. Unlike the poster's muscular depiction of Doyle, she was actually petite, glamorous, and slender. In fact, Doyle, also a musician, quit the factory soon after the photo, fearing injury would preclude her from playing her cello, according to the newspaper.
I never knew there was a model for this iconic poster.
RIP, Mrs. Doyle.
My grandmother was a "Rosie the Riveter" in the DFW area. She was all of 5'3", but one of the strongest women I've ever known.
ReplyDeleteAlways a shock to find out there are real people behind some of our icons. I had much the same reaction when I found out that it was a real woman in the original Columbia Pictures opening on their movies (which, as a Three Stooges fan, I saw thousands of times.)
ReplyDeleteBuck/
ReplyDeleteI sent you a New Year's Day email using buckpennington@yahoo.com but came back as accnt closed/unavail.
Hellup!
Lou: Your grandmother was part of a generation of women that really WERE feminists, in the best sense of the word.
ReplyDeleteJim: I didn't know that about the Columbia woman, either!
Virgil: I've never used Yahoo! mail.
I remember a few years ago reading an article that included a few paragraphs about when she found out the poster was based on her. It was fascinating and in the context of women's contributions to the war effort, and how it shaped the rest of their lives.
ReplyDeleteI found that bit about her not knowing in the NYT article the most interesting piece of all, Thimbelle.
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