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Random Thoughts

Bobbin' Along

Hudson Cooper
Posted 9/9/22

I hope the title of this column did not cause the neurons and synapses in your brain to flameout as it tried to remember that catchy song written by Harry Woods in 1926. You might recall its most …

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Random Thoughts

Bobbin' Along

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I hope the title of this column did not cause the neurons and synapses in your brain to flameout as it tried to remember that catchy song written by Harry Woods in 1926. You might recall its most well-known lyric, “When the red red robin comes bob bob bobbin’ along, along/ There’ll be no more sobbin’ when he starts throbbin’ his own, sweet song.”  First, let us clear something up. In America, the red, red cardinal is the most recognizable red bird. I guess Mr. Woods stuck with a robin to use the rhyming words bobbin,’ sobbin,’ and throbbin.’ But this column is not for the birds.

Secondly, I will not be exploring the development of the sewing machine bobbin. Suffice it to say that a bobbin is the device that feeds thread from the underside of a sewing machine to the needle. Its invention in 1850 is credited to Allen Wilson.

So, stop your sobbin’ or throbbin’ and enjoy the history of another bobbin’ thing… the bobble-head.

Many of you are familiar with bobble-heads. For those neophytes, a bobble-head is a small, collectible figure with an oversized head. Mounted on the body by a coiled spring, the head starts “bobbin” when the figure is moved. Usually, the bobble-head is designed to look like a celebrity, action hero or professional athlete. But, manufactured for those vain enough to put their likeness on one, there are companies that will make a bobble-head fashioned from a photo of your face. 

A rudimentary form of bobble-heads came into being during the seventeenth century. In Asia, figurines of Buddha and other religious images were built with heads that moved. They were known as “temple nodders” and can be seen in the background of paintings of that era.

The earliest known reference to a bobble-head-like figure outside of Asia is in a short story written by Gogol in 1842. In the story he describes a character by saying he had a neck “like the neck of plaster cats which wag their heads.”

During the nineteenth century porcelain bobble-heads began appearing in the United States. Most of these were imported from Germany and grew in popularity in the 1920’s.

Their popularity ebbed and flowed until the 1960’s when Major League Baseball saw an opportunity to get in the bobble-head game. The league produced papier-mâché bobble-heads, one for each team. Their fragile construction made those that are still around collector’s items. The heads of those bobble-heads just represented a generic ballplayer wearing the team uniform.

Major League Baseball eventually realized that they could sell more bobble-heads if they were named for actual star players. They hoped to hit a homerun with bobble-heads of Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Willie Mays and Roberto Clemente. But there was one glaring problem. They all had the same cherubic face which was an obvious mistake.

When the Beatles launched the “British Invasion,” a producer began selling a set of bobble-heads that actually had faces the looked like the four lads from Liverpool. To this day, they are one of the most sought-after collectibles.

The bobble-head craze took off when they began to be made from plastic making them easy to mass produce. The first baseball team to take advantage of the plastic figurines were the San Francisco Giants. When they gave away Willie Mays bobble-heads to fans before a game in 1999, it opened the door for other franchises to do the same.

Baseball teams pack their stadiums whenever they hold a bobble-head promotion night. During the past few years, they distributed bobble-heads of baseball stars like Aaron Judge, Jacob deGrom, Ron Shelton, Mike Trout, David Ortiz and Albert Pujols. All of them are baseball all-stars except for Ron Shelton. Although not in the baseball player alumni, Ron Shelton has a connection with the sport, but so far does not have a bobble-head in his honor. He is the writer and director of one the best films about baseball, “Bull Durham.” 

“Bull Durham” is an homage to minor league baseball. One of the stars of the film is Tim Robbins. He plays the up-and-coming pitcher “Nuke” LaLoosh. Maybe the production company should consider making a Tim Robbins bobbin’ bobble-head to celebrate the film.

Hudson Cooper is a resident of Sullivan County, a writer, comedian and actor.

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