Thursday, December 30, 2010

'We Can Do It' WWII poster girl, Geraldine Hoff Doyle, dies at 86; often confused with 'Rosie The Riveter'

Geraldine Hoff Doyle, who worked as a metal presser in an Ann Arbor, Mich. factory when a wire photographer photographed her, has died at 86. The photos of the then Hoff inspired a famous poster by J. Howard Miller. That poster later became an iconic image for women's rights advocates of the 1960s and 1970s.
     After leaving the factory, Hoff met and married Leo Doyle and the two subsequently ran a successful dental practice in Lansing. Her husband died earlier this year.
     According to Wikipedia, Doyle's image is often confused with that of "Rosie The Riveter," the subject of a popular 1942 song of the same name recorded by several artists, including band leader Kay Kyser. The woman who was the inspiration for the song was Rosalind P. Walter, who came from old money and who worked the night shift building the F4U Corsair fighter. Later, Walter was a philanthropist and an early supporter of the Charlie Rose interview show. Rosie the Riveter became most closely associated with another woman, Rose Will Monroe, who worked as a riveter at the Willow Run Aircraft Factory in Ypsilanti, Michigan, building B-29 and B-24 bombers.
File:RosieTheRiveter.jpg
1943 depiction of 'Rosie The Riveter'
by Norman Rockwell

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