Personalized CCC Wear #2: Betty Boop and Popeye Moleskin Vest

Along with the Cooper's Rock MC-style cossack jacket, I have tripped across one other example of a truly personalized garment associated with the CCC -- a work or hunting vest hand-decorated with pen-and-ink cartoon sketches and a freehand CCC logo.

I found images of this garment in a blog post with no further information provided.

This jerkin appears to be made of moleskin, a heavy cotton fabric woven and then sheared to create a short, soft pile on one side. Moleskin was a common choice for durable workwear in midcentury, often used as an alternative to whipcord or canvas duck.  

The collar includes a tag identifying the manufacturer as Buck Szein or Buck Stein, with a buck image. The buck iconography is surely a play on the manufacturer's brand name, but may also suggest the core market might have been hunters and outdoorsmen. The vest includes two patch front pockets with slightly angled top entry and is closed with a Talon zipper. The waist includes fabric tabs and buckles on each side for adjusting the fit.

The vest is ornamented on both sides with a variety of quite well executed hand-drawn pen and ink markings. On the right front breast is a cartoon of Betty Boop, the animated cartoon character created by Max Fleischer. A caricature of a Jazz Age flapper, Betty made her film debut in August 1930. On the right front pocket is a set of monogram initials in a circle -- they seem to be S and B flanking a center C.

On the back center of the vest is a hand-drawn shield with the letters CCC and the legend Civilian Conservation Corps.  Below it is another fine cartoon featuring Betty with Popeye the Sailor. Popeye was another Fleischer creation; he debuted side by side with Betty in 1933's "Popeye the Sailor with Betty Boop," which combined Popeye's origin story with an animated short featuring the established and very popular Betty.

This was surely a private purchase item decorated by its owner, a CCC enrollee.  

The anonymous owner seems to have identified with Popeye, the tough guy with a heart of gold. In the famous theme song, written by Sammy Learner, Popeye proclaims that

I'm Popeye the Sailor Man. I'm Popeye the Sailor Man.
I'm strong to the finich, cause I eats me spinach.
I'm Popeye the Sailor Man.

I'm one tough Gazookus, which hates all Palookas.
Wot ain't on the up and square.
I biffs 'em and buffs 'em and always out roughs 'em
and none of 'em gets nowhere.

If anyone dares to risk my "Fisk", It's "Boff" an' it's "Wham" un'erstan'?
So keep "Good Be-hav-or", That's your one life saver
With Popeye the Sailor Man.

He's Popeye the Sailor Man, He's Popeye the Sailor Man.
He's strong to the finich, cause he eats his spinach.
He's Popeye the Sailor Man.

Popeye's combination of toughness and chivalry would have been a remarkably good match for the values promoted among enrollees by the 3C's, with its "We can take it!" motto and ethos.