General Hersheybar

General Hersheybar (aka Calypso Joe) is a satirical character of the Vietnam War-era protest movement, who parodied U.S. General Lewis B. Hershey, then Director of the Selective Service. He was usually seen partnered with General Waste More Land (aka Tom Dunphy), a parody of General William Westmoreland. The characters were common at street theater performances and demonstrations against U.S. military involvement in Vietnam. General Hersheybar would appear in a comical military uniform complete with a plastic toy fighter-jet attached to his "officer's cap" and hand out fliers promoting his satirical diatribe. In addition he self-published several monographs and booklets.

Appearances

• In 1969 General Hersheybar showed up at the Altamont free concert in California where performers included the Rolling Stones. Although he was apparently a self-invited guest, the movie made of the concert shows him in full regalia, making a gesture he satirically called a navel salute, which involved placing a horizontal hand on his navel then moving his arm out horizontally.

• He also made a cameo appearance in a low-budget movie made for public access, entitled Broadcast From The Future, in which he appeared as Doctor Everest Word. (Bluemonkey Films by Martin Cohen, also starring Evonne Pizzoni, aired in 1991).

• The characters of General Hersheybar and General Waste More Land were made into a 1967 underground comic book called Those Lovable Peace-Nuts by William Stout.

• Photographer Richard Friedman wrote of encountering General Hersheybar at a so-called War Is Over march in the late 1960s:

External links

• Photo of General Hersheybar with his colleague General Waste More Land
• Richard Friedman's photos from the War Is Over march