Posted on Thu, Dec 30, 2010 : 12:23 p.m.
Geraldine Hoff Doyle, inspiration for Rosie the Riveter 'We Can Do It' poster, dies at 86
By Cindy Heflin
Geraldine Hoff Doyle, whose image inspired the famous World War II era "We Can Do It" Rosie the Riveter poster, has died at the age of 86, The Washington Post and Lansing State Journal reported.
Doyle was living in Lansing and died at a hospice there of complications from severe arthritis, the Post reported.
Doyle graduated from high school in Ann Arbor and was working at a metal-stamping factory when a photographer took a picture of her that became the inspiration for the famous poster, the State Journal said.
Comments
Speechless
Thu, Dec 30, 2010 : 8:02 p.m.
The iconic Rosie the Riveter illustrates how something could go viral in the media long before there was an internet, even before the first computer was built. It took on a life of its own — quite contrary to the intent of its creators. From the Washington Post: "The 'We Can Do It!' poster was scheduled to be displayed in Westinghouse facilities for only two weeks in February 1942." Rather than vanish forever afterward, those two weeks amounted to, in retrospect, a limited world premiere for a semi-global icon. Later, Rosie proceeded to show how, without any help from Youtube or Facebook, something could go viral a second time. The icon, like most wartime images, faded in visibility following World War II, only to suddenly reemerge during the early 1970s. Rediscovered and adopted by women's rights activists, the image became reprinted and displayed more than ever. In the end, the real-life model for the famed illustration was not named Rosie, was not a riveter, and chose to leave her factory job not long after her photo was taken by UPI. The subsequent illustration based on that photo is today an international representation of a cause or sensibility that has no relationship to building workplace morale for increased wartime production.