Vol. 7, No. 5

SENDING THE MESSAGE OF SCOUTING

In this Issue: • Artist J. C. Leyendecker • Leyendecker’s Liberty Loan Poster • Scouting And Semaphore • Semaphore Badges

Many think of Norman Rockwell as Scouting’s greatest artist. He certainly produced the highest number of memorable images, but it was another man, J.C. Leyendecker, who painted the most famous Scout scene of all time. It was one of only two canvases he devoted to the BSA, but its effect on the organization has been profound.

ARTIST J. C. LEYENDECKER

Joseph Christian Leyendecker was born in Germany in 1874 and immigrated to America with his family eight years later. As a young man he studied at the Chicago Art Institute and the Académie Julian in Paris, and soon became a celebrated magazine illustrator.

Leyendecker also became famous for his advertising art. His unique perspective and artistic skill brought a high-fashion look to products from men’s clothing to soap and automobiles.

A year after the BSA was founded, Mr. Leyendecker painted a scene of Scouts sending and receiving messages with semaphore flags.

The finished piece appeared on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post and a month later on a Boys’ Life cover. Both magazines reversed Leyendecker’s image so that instead of the letter L, the Scouts are forming the sign for Disregard Previous Signal. The image also found its way onto a 1912 pin sent to new subscribers of Boys’ Life magazine.

“We have gone to the expense of getting up this beautiful little celluloid badge, lithographed in four colors, for our boy readers,” the editors announced. “We want every boy who reads BOYS’ LIFE MAGAZINE to wear one of these badges, and we are giving you an opportunity to get one without cost.”

The semaphore signalers appeared again in 1914 on the cover of the second edition of the Boy Scout Handbook, and in variations on subsequent printings for the next thirteen years.

Leyendecker’s signature, a work of art itself, can be found beneath the lower of the two flags.

A 1916 Boys’ Life article said of Leyendecker’s painting that “This picture was such a beautiful piece of work that it was adopted as an unofficial ‘trademark’ for scout literature. It appears on the membership certificates, on the cover of the Handbook, on the letterheads of National Headquarters and on a great deal of other boy scout printed matter.”

The image showed up on a medal presented by the National American Woman Suffrage Association to Scouts who were of service during marches in Washington, DC, promoting the right of women to vote. A modern version recognizes those who hike trails in the nation’s capital highlighting points of importance to Scouting’s history:

The pose reoccurred on Boys’ Life magazine covers as artists and photographers provided their own interpretations:

American Boys, produced in the 1920s by Milton Bradley, made signaling a move in a board game.

In 1918 Norman Rockwell did his own take on Scouts using semaphore flags with Scouting is More than Fun and Games. Rockwell captured the serious intent of Scouts ready to be of service in an emergency.

Twenty years younger than Leyendecker, Rockwell was heavily influenced by the veteran artist’s style. Each man produced more than 300 covers for The Saturday Evening Post, and completed hundreds of other works that defined distinct visions of America. Rockwell and Leyendecker became lifelong friends. “I began working for The Saturday Evening Post in 1916,” Mr. Rockwell recalled, “and Leyendecker was my God.”

LEYENDECKER’S LIBERTY LOAN POSTER

Mr. Leyendecker did his only other painting of Scouting 1918. It depicts a Scout giving a sword to the symbol of Liberty, who is draped in the flag of the United States and ready to go into battle. Etched on the sword are the BSA emblem and the words Be Prepared. It served as the cover of the March 2, 1918, edition of The Saturday Evening Post.

The image also became a poster promoting Liberty Loan No. 3, a BSA Good Turn to the nation. Scouts distributed a million copies of the poster and sold millions of dollars’ worth of bonds to help finance America’s participation in World War One.

SCOUTING AND SEMAPHORE

Sending messages with signal flags was a BSA rank advancement throughout much of the Twentieth Century. Until 1948, First Class Scouts had to learn either semaphore or Morse code. From then through the 1970s, only Morse code was required.

Mastering semaphore took plenty of practice. Companies developed charts of flag positions and decks of flash cards to help Scouts memorize the letters. As a teaching aid, the Sema-Sig Machine was perhaps even more complicated than semaphore itself. There’s one at the BSA National Museum in Irving, Texas.

Flagged messages have always been limited by distance, bad weather, and darkness. With the development of telegraphs, telephones, and wireless communications, both semaphore and Morse code lost their urgency for Scouts. As if to acknowledge semaphore’s lessening role, a 1922 Boys’ Life cover featured two Scouts in typical signaling

position, ready to send a message to an aircraft. But instead of flags, which would have been useless in the new technology of flight, they are using a radio with its wire antenna suspended between two trees.

SEMAPHORE BADGES

The Signaller merit badge, introduced in 1910, became Signaling the next year and required knowing both Morse code and semaphore. Its original version asked Scouts to learn about sending messages with smoke signals, too.

The Signaling merit badge was discontinued in 1992, then reintroduced in 2010 for a year as one of four historic merit badges marking the centennial celebration of the BSA. The other three were Carpentry, Tracking, and Pathfinding.

Among the newest merit badges is Signs, Signals, and Codes. It brings to life some of Scouting’s forgotten skills, including semaphore.

A requirement asks Scouts to explain what semaphore is and why, how, and where it is used. Earning the badge also means spelling one’s first name using semaphore and sending or receiving a message of six to 10 words. You

can learn about Morse code, too, and braille, silent Scout signals, trail signs, secret codes, and even text message emoticons.

To conclude this edition of the Be Prepared Newsletter, here’s a simple semaphore message:

(This edition of the Be Prepared Newsletter was developed and written by Robert Birkby, author of the current editions of the Boy Scout Handbook, Fieldbook, Scout Stuff, The Conservation Handbook, and Eagle Scouts: A Centennial History.)