Gee! I Wish I Were a Man – I’d Join the Navy, Naval Reserve, or Coast Guard

Description

Like her counterpart in the previous poster (no. 4- Christy "I Want You For the Navy"), this bouncy little number in an enlisted man's uniform is another of the "Christy Girls". The particular version of the Christy type was dubbed the "Honey Girl" by the many men she enticed into enlisting in the service. She may wish she were a man, but no red-blooded American boy could miss the kewpie doll sensuosity in her piquant naiveté particularly as she is posed in a uniform too large for her that clings suggestively to her very womanly body. Although the contemporary writer Albert Gallatin criticized Christy's sketchy use of line as unsuited to poster work, this bright, perky poster catches the eye and consequently does its job very well. The fact that the poster was reissued several times in 1917-1918 attest to its success and popularity.