Conaway: ‘I Want You’ is still a message for today
James Montgomery Flagg World War I 'I Want You' poster on display as part of the The Jim Irsay Collection at Manhattan Center's Hammerstein Ballroom on June 3, 2022, in New York. (NDZ/STAR MAX/IPx)
Dan Conaway
Dan Conaway is a lifelong Memphian, fascinated and frustrated with his city, but still in love. A columnist since 2010, his distinguished advertising career has branded ribs in the Rendezvous and ducks in The Peabody, pandas in the zoo and Grizzlies in the NBA. Stories in Memphis tend to write themselves. He’s helped a few along. Two book collections of his columns have been published.
You’ve seen the iconic poster and its endless variations.
Uncle Sam points his finger at the viewer. The full text of the 1917 original, drawn by James Montgomery Flagg, is in all caps on three lines in different size letters:
I WANT YOU
FOR U.S. ARMY
NEAREST RECRUITING STATION
But what we all remember, what you remember, is the “I want you” and the crusty, white-haired Uncle Sam pointing directly, unmistakenly, definitively at you.
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