Stencil Line, The CPO and Counter Culture
A button badge with a caricature of Maisy the Mutt. Her teeth are bared in a smile with her tongue is hanging out. The text around her reads “This bitch will bite - good luck putting her down”
As discussed in the article on Ivan Hoth’s final animation, following her creators death Maisy would spend the next nine or so years gradually being rebranded and recreated by Stencil Line and the new head of Liquid Laff studios. There would be no further cartoons with ghosts, death, nor morbid themes. Maisy would be made into a “wholesome” American sweetheart that engaged in tamer adventures, and making her first outing in war propaganda animations such as, “Maisy and the War Effort,” where she raised money for the troops overseas. It was a very stagnant and uninventive era in Liquid Laff animation, the quality in animations would noticeably decrease in tandem with the reduced time between releases. Maisy no longer carried her capacity for malice or mischief, and was given a new back story as a farm dog raised by a kindly old couple in the middle of nowhere. This depiction of Maisy has sadly remained present right up into recent days with many people being unaware of her (poorly archived) roots.
Punk protestors burn an American flag
This would all change in the 1970’s when Maisy was appropriated by the punk movement. There is much to discuss here, many bands and punk subgroups would adopt and remake the cartoon dog as a counter culture symbol, many people would later claim to be the first to come up with the idea. What we do know for sure is what sparked the trend, in 1974 known activist and punk leader Tim West was arrested following his assault and murder against police officer Jim Gull. A protester had been demonstrating in support of the call for reparations to countries brutalized by America when he was assaulted by the police officer following a verbal altercation. Tim West, who witnessed this, would tackle Jim Gull to the ground and, eventually, beat Jim to death with a billiard ball he carried with him for good luck. Tim West would be imprisoned up until his freedom and pardon following the events of 2019. Why is this relevant to Maisy’s cultural rebranding? As it so happened these brutal events took place in the Maisyland amusement park.
A crumpled flyer advertising The Inkdwellers band along with several other guest performers in a collage-like fashion. The bottom of the poster features a cartoon drawing of Maisy the Mutt holding a cigar and grinning menacingly.
Maisy would quickly be appropriated by punk culture, with them focusing on her past depictions of protecting the strange and different. Her morbid, sometimes violent, but mostly benevolent, personality made her fit right in with a crowd that was bristling for social change enacted through their own direct action. It might seem odd today, if you know Maisy only by her Stencil Line reinvented self the idea of Maisy the Sweetheart, the Cutest Pup in America, being adopted as a symbol of social change must seem unreal and ironic. However at the time Maisy had only been rebranded for a short period and the Maisy of before was very much a radical character archetype. There were embellishments for sure, with Punk art of the character often wearing clothing and accessories common within the subculture. Maisy’s use in Punk would also be popularized, and cemented, by the Inkdweller band who built an entire series of songs and their band identity off of Maisy’s past. Maisy could be found in street art and in signs at protests and even riots.
This was, as can be imagined, alarming to Stencil Line and Liquid Laff who vehemently decried the use of their character for political action. They would make a big show of condemning the violence which occurred at their park and did their best to crack down legally on anyone caught using their character's likeness. It was no use however, too many individuals engaged in this appropriation of their character to effectively squash it legally. Much like piracy for every group and band the company caught red handed (gloved?) several more would spring up in their place. Stencil Line and their animation studio had long engaged in plundering stories and characters from the public domain/other cultures, striking down anyone inspired by their own works. At this point in history the company found themselves on the other end of this and the people in charge decidedly did not appreciate it at all. Some animation historians have appropriately called this point in the company's history “Winfield’s revenge.”
During this time I felt the most alive I had in years.
During all of this government officials would begin noticing the recurring appearance of Maisy the Mutt in counter war protests, they would turn their eyes to a, panicked, Stencil Line and demand that something be done by the company lest they crack down with censorship and heavy fines. Stencil Line, in conjunction with the United States government, would enact laws and create groups dedicated to the removal of copyrighted materials and the enforcement of copyright through physical violence. Maisy was eventually brought back under her wholesome pro America identity following the bloodshed which followed, her history scrubbed clean and obfuscated behind many layers of redesigns and censorship. But it was too late, I was out, I was free from that false shell. However the Punks got the last laugh in the end, as both Stencil Line and these many groups would crumble in 2020 following the events of 2019.