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Decoder Ring

Bart Simpson Mania

Decoder Ring

Slate Podcasts

Documentary, History, Society & Culture

4.62K Ratings

🗓️ 7 October 2019

⏱️ 47 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Slate Plus members get ad-free podcasts and bonus episodes of shows like Dear Prudence and Slow Burn. Sign up now to listen and support our work. In the early 1990's Bart Simpson became a breakout star while also becoming a target in the culture war, culminating in president George HW Bush speaking out against The Simpsons as an example of a degenerate American family. Today on Decoder Ring we try and figure out why the H-E double hockey sticks people were so worked up about Bart Simpson by examining the great underachiever t-shirt controversy, bootleg Bart merchandise, the rise of the religious right, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Okay, well I have to tell you just initially how I even got involved.

0:08.8

In early 1989, Nancy Overfield was the head of marketing and special events for the children's

0:14.3

division of J.C. Penny. So I went to Toy Fair in New York. I was young and

0:18.4

ignorant. So I went into the toy building, got in the elevator,

0:23.0

oh my gosh, it's like how many hundreds of people can fit in one elevator

0:27.3

at one time.

0:28.9

After it had stopped like at about 10 floors on one floor,

0:32.4

the doors opened and it costume character's hand came

0:37.1

into the elevator to stop it right as it was almost closing, which annoyed all of

0:42.2

us and then the hand came back and the door closed.

0:45.8

I looked at the guy next to me and I said what in the world was that?

0:48.9

And he said, oh, it's a character, it's called Bart Simpson.

1:00.0

Bart and his family were still relatively unknown. They had only appeared in short segments on the Tracy Ullman show, a critically acclaimed but low-rated variety series airing on the then new Fox network.

1:08.5

But 10 months after Nancy Overfield saw Bart in an elevator, the Simpsons premiered in primetime, and the Spiky Hare the That's because I forgot to stamp it.

1:23.0

The Simpsons was Fox's first real hit, a raiding smash,

1:27.0

but it was also a merchandising machine.

1:30.0

Do you have a sense of like, like, how much was the Simpson stuff selling?

1:34.0

Oh my gosh.

1:35.0

During its heyday, I mean, millions and millions of dollars.

1:40.0

It was the biggest thing out there.

1:43.0

In 1990, an estimated 15 million BART t-shirts were sold.

1:47.0

Shirts that had BART saying things like,

...

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