General Hersheybar

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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.

[edit] 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 an underground 1967 comic book called 'Those Lovable Peace-Nuts' by William Stout.

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

The rally started in Washington Square and went up 5th Avenue...
At the rally I found Phil Ochs, Paul Krassner and Abbie Hoffman.
Also General Hersheybar.

(photos here)