origin of the term "fearless leader"
George Rapp
I realized that I have been using the term "fearless leader" to
refer to my boss, without knowing its origin. (It's in fairly
widespread use, so it seems like it would have originated from
some common source.) Any ideas?
...gwr...
George Rapp Electronic Data Systems Corporation
EDS Research 7171 Forest Lane, C212
(uunet!edsr!midearthmail!gwr) Dallas, Texas 75230 214/661-6478
gr...@befvax.uchicago.edu
>
>I realized that I have been using the term "fearless leader" to
>refer to my boss, without knowing its origin. (It's in fairly
>widespread use, so it seems like it would have originated from
>some common source.) Any ideas?
Say it with a Russian accent. It comes from Bullwinkle. Natasha and
Boris used it, I think to refer to Boris.
Leon Gross
I'm not an actor, but I play one on TV.
Ron Dippold
>I realized that I have been using the term "fearless leader" to
>refer to my boss, without knowing its origin. (It's in fairly
>widespread use, so it seems like it would have originated from
>some common source.) Any ideas?
Rocky and Bullwinkle! Mr. Big's replacement as the Pottsylvanian bad
guy, Boris's boss.
--
Go away. I'm all right. -- last words of H. G. Wells
cli...@sequent.com
>(First-time poster - flames on low heat, please 8^)
>
>I realized that I have been using the term "fearless leader" to
>refer to my boss, without knowing its origin. (It's in fairly
>widespread use, so it seems like it would have originated from
>some common source.) Any ideas?
The Rocky and Bullwinkle show-
Boris Badinoff's boss was 'Fearless Leader'
>
>...gwr...
>George Rapp Electronic Data Systems Corporation
>EDS Research 7171 Forest Lane, C212
>(uunet!edsr!midearthmail!gwr) Dallas, Texas 75230 214/661-6478
--
cliffw
'When the going gets wierd, the wierd turn pro'- HST
Eric Wedaa
>(First-time poster - flames on low heat, please 8^)
>I realized that I have been using the term "fearless leader" to
>refer to my boss, without knowing its origin. (It's in fairly
>widespread use, so it seems like it would have originated from
>some common source.) Any ideas?
Well... I seem to remember first hearing it on Rocky and Bulwinkle.
It was how Boris addressed his superior officer. (Superior officer,
not very superior if you ask me...)
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Charles Lasner
Fearless leader? (All 'de children sing!)
The song is about some 50's kid's TV show, possibly mythical or composite of
several things from the era, sort of the same derivation as Being for the
Benefit of Mr Kite is taken from a circus poster, complete with inane credits
etc.
So this could be an indirect reference to Ramar of the jungle, circa 1955, or
I have yet another more arcane one:
The original Beany & Cecil show was a live-TV Saturday-morning effort where
Beany & Cecil were marionettes, sort of a Howdy Doody clone. Bob Clampett
was originally a cartoon artist (I think he was connected with Hanna and
Barbera, back in the Tom & Jerry days; perhaps even Disney or Warner or
whatever), so in the early '60's he brought back Beany's uncle, Cap'n
Huffenpuff. Clearly in the '60's cartoon, his cowardice is what causes them
to call him "our fearless leader" but I can't say it was original then. In
any case, I assume John Lennon was attuned to the phoneyness of these
"fearless leader" types that were really cowards, the type who would "in case
of accidents he always took his mom" along, etc.
Now here's the most obscure part:
in the '60's Huffenpuff was called Horatio, but in the '50's he was known by
another name, popularized by a young kid back then who also played with
hand puppets and such, named Jim Henson. Yes, Henson's "idol" (well one of
them) was Bob Clampett, the REAL inventor of KERMIT. Yes, he was addressed
occasionally by his first name Kermit Huffenpuff, and was variably called
Uncle Cap'n, or Uncle Kermit. Notice that in the '60's, he was never
referred to as uncle Horatio, just Cap'n Huffenpuff, or uncle Cap'n, or
Horation to others who would use the firs name only (on occasion).
So, it's a good thing I am not sitting here typing into rn from the other end
of the line using a version of Horatio, after the little green frog of the
same name :-).
cjl (quite an urbane legend :-))
Charles Lasner
superior (never seen) as some form of the words (fearless leader) as a
variant on Comrade.
But in any case, Beany & Cecil is older than Rocket J. Squirrel and Bullwinkle.
cjl (fearless reader of AFU)
Ron Dippold
>I believe Boris Badinov and Natasha Fatale did refer to their immediate
>superior (never seen) as some form of the words (fearless leader) as a
>variant on Comrade.
Fearless leader was often seen! He's the guy with the scars all over
his face, the eyepatch, and the cigarette in cigarette holder. His
name was Fearless Leader. At least that's all he was ever called.
The term was used earlier, but this is where the popularity comes from.
--
There is very little future in being right when your boss is wrong.
Peter Z. Simpson
> I realized that I have been using the term "fearless leader" to
> refer to my boss, without knowing its origin. (It's in fairly
> widespread use, so it seems like it would have originated from
> some common source.) Any ideas?
Rocky and Bullwinkle.
He was Boris and Natasha Badenov's boss.
[and that's Fearless Leader, capitalized, please :-]
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Westboro, MA 01580 INTERNET: p...@ficus.webo.dg.com
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Bob Morris
>refer to my boss, without knowing its origin. (It's in fairly
>widespread use, so it seems like it would have originated from
>some common source.) Any ideas?
>
boss was called Fearless Leader. For those of you who don't know, "Rocky
and Bullwinkle" was a cartoon show from the early 60's which appealed to
kids and adults alike. It's still being shown in syndication.
And while we're on the subject, a couple of weeks ago, a cartoon in the
newspaper (I think it was Ziggy) had a panel with Boris and Natasha
standing in an umemployement line.
Bob "Watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat" Morris
aka mor...@anasaz.UUCP
My opinions only, of course...
anasaz!mor...@asuvax.eas.asu.edu
Kim Dyer
This explains ALOT about the poster of the following question ;-)
>I realized that I have been using the term "fearless leader" to
>refer to my boss, without knowing its origin. (It's in fairly
>widespread use, so it seems like it would have originated from
>some common source.) Any ideas?
Ah, the lasting damage of a deprived childhood instead of a
depraved one. "Fearless Leader" is Boris and Natasha's
boss. Constantly amazed at inability of said spys to do
ANYTHING about pesky Moose and Squirrel.
(And before someone asks ... Boris Badenoff, Natasha Nogoodnik,
Rocket J. Squirrel, Bullwinkle J. Moose, Capt. Peter "Wrongway"
Peachfuzz, etc.)
Warren Burstein
>But in any case, Beany & Cecil is older than Rocket J. Squirrel and Bullwinkle.
But they could have used the WayBack machine.
Warren "Message in a mailbox" Burstein
--
/|/-\/-\ The entire world
|__/__/_/ is a very strange carrot
|warren@ But the farmer
/ itex.jct.ac.il is not worried at all.
Warren Burstein
>And while we're on the subject, a couple of weeks ago, a cartoon in the
>newspaper (I think it was Ziggy) had a panel with Boris and Natasha
>standing in an umemployement line.
Still? They complained about being out of work in Stupid Peoples' Court
years ago. Maybe they can get rehabilitated and find work as hosts of
a CIS children's show.
Warren "Oops, wrong hat" Burstein
Greg Franklin
may be interested in knowing that the term might have been adapted
from an earlier source. (It sounds plausible, so...)
In the early 1900s, a first baseman for the Chicago Cubs named Frank
Chance got the nickname "The Peerless Leader." This nickname became
quite well-known in its day amongst baseball fans. Perhaps Bullwinkle's
creator played off this nickname to create his character.
Nowadays the only memory of the guy most Americans hold of Chance is the
silly little "Tinker to Evers to Chance" poem by Franklin Adams.
ObUL: Churchill kept a posse of "comfort gerbils" in his office at
10 Downing Street. In an unpublished memoir, he claimed that he
was under great stress because of World War II and thus needed a
"tension reliever."
--
Greg Franklin "Death is everywhere,
f677...@ccit.arizona.edu there are fries on the windscreen."
twelvem...@gmail.com
> There is very little future in being right when your boss is wrong.
"It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!"
I, Candidate for Governor: And How I Got Licked (1935), ISBN 0-520-08198-6; repr. University of California Press, 1994, p. 109.